FOLLOWING local government units, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines are still the most corrupt government agencies, the Ombudsman said in a report released Monday.
“For five straight years, officials from local government units [LGU] and members of the Philippine National Police [PNP] topped the chart as the agencies with the most number of cases filed with the Office of the Ombudsman,” Morales said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines is at third place followed by the Department of Education (fourth); Department of Environment and Natural Resources (fifth); State Universities and Colleges (sixth); Department of Agriculture (seventh); Department of Finance (eighth); and Department of Agrarian Reform (ninth).
“Based on the report submitted by the Finance and Management Information Office, cases against LGU officials rose by 31 percent, an increase from 2,053 cases in 2014 to 2,697 in 2015, while cases against members of the PNP increased from 1,258 in 2014 to 1,265 in 2015,” Morales said.
Surprisingly, Ombudsman Conchita Morales there has been a “downward trend” of corruption cases at the Bureau of Customs, now at 10th place.
“In contrast, the Bureau of Customs, at 10th place, registered a downward trend with 177 cases in 2011 to 81 cases in 2012, 76 cases in 2013, 84 cases in 2014 and 70 cases in 2015,” she said, noting the cases filed included both criminal and administrative complaints.
Morales released the report a month after Transparency International noted in its annual Corruption Perceptions Index that the Philippines slipped 10 notches in ranking of corruption perception in 168 countries.
In the 2015 CPI released late January, the Philippines got a score of 35 out of 100, 10 notches lower than its ranking last year. Philippines scored 34 in 2012, 36 in 2013, and 38 in 2014.
The scores in the CPI, which could be from a scale of 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), are based on “expert opinions of public sector corruption.”
Transparency International also observed that two-thirds of the 168 countries have scores below 50, adding that no country in the world is completely corruption-free.
