May 12, 2012
Source: GMA News
To mark the 24th anniversary of the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City on Tuesday, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales (center) joins an indignation rally against corruption. GMA News
Corruption in government transactions is losing ground as more and more Filipinos show aversion to bribing their way to get VIP treatment, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said Wednesday.
At a ceremony on the agency’s 24th founding anniversary held at the Quezon Memorial Circle, Morales cited the results of a recent National Statistics Office (NSO) nationwide survey showing 90 percent refuse to give “grease money” to facilitate government transactions.
“Only 10 percent of those who accessed government services paid grease money to an agency official to facilitate transactions,” the Office of the Ombudsman said in a statement.
“This is lower than the 16 percent bribe incidence in the Philippines reported by the Transparency International in the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer,” the statement added.
The Office of the Ombudsman commissioned the NSO survey in mid-2010 and covered 26,000 respondents in all regions of the country.
Officials of the anti-graft body said the result of the study was representative of the situation on the ground as it measured “actual experience as opposed to mere perceptions or public opinions usually reported by local and international survey groups.”
They attributed the positive results to “reduced red tape in government agencies, improved service delivery and customer satisfaction, or non-tolerance of corruption by the transacting public.”
According to the agency’s statement, lower incidence of bribery was reported in social services transactions including public education, healthcare and food subsidy.
But, it said incidence of “bribery” still weighs heavily on bureaucratic matters, especially pertaining registry and licensing, payment of taxes and other charges as well as access to justice.
More than half of those who admitted to paying bribe to accomplish their business said they voluntarily give money even without being asked.
However, those who said that bribe money was demanded from them opted not to report to proper authorities.
“We invite everybody to cooperate with us to expose all instances of corruption. If only all demands for grease money were reported, we will be able to do so many things in order to deter if not eradicate these illicit practices,” Morales said during her speech. — LBG, GMA News
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