Business trust in Customs continues to plummet
More businessmen are seeing “a lot” of corruption in the public sector in 2013 than in 2012, but business expectations in the next two years are reaching a “record high”.
This is according to the 2013 Enterprise Survey on Corruption by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
Taking the bottom in the study with “very bad net sincerity rating in fighting corruption” is the Bureau of Customs (BOC). The BOC has slid from -46 in 2012 to -63 last year.
Six national government agencies got : “poor” (-29 to -10) for Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the House of
Representatives; while “bad” (-49 to -30) for Land Transportation Office (LTO) and “very bad” (-69 to -50) for the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Fifty-six percent of the study’s respondents said they saw a lot of corruption in the government, something that SWS president Dr. Mahar Mangahas considers as a “setback” because 2012 results was only 43 percent.
The number, however, is not too bad compared to the other years.
“If you can see, 56 percent is still low compared to all the other previous years wherein the percentage (of enterprises seeing a lot of corruption in government) has never been below 60 percent in 2000,” Mangahas said.
Mangahas also noted that “the most cynical are in Cebu” with 56 percent saying, the highest among the seven areas, that “corruption is part of the way government works.” Only 44 percent in Cebu believes that “the government can be run without corruption.”
Net sincerity, according to SWS, is the “percentage calling them sincere minus the percentage calling them insincere.”
High rankings
The only one with an “excellent” (70 and above) rating was the Office of the President.
A “very good” (50-69) rating was given to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Health (DOH), Social Security System (SSS) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“Good” (30-49) rating was given to Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The city governments, Ombudsman, Commission on Audit (COA), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Sandiganbayan were given a “moderate” (10-29) rating, while trial courts, Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), Commission on Elections (Comelec), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Senate received a “neutral” (negative 9 to 9) rating.
The 26 agencies, Mangahas said, were identified by businessmen themselves in an earlier focus group.
Downgrades
The SSS, Supreme Court, DOJ, COA and Comelec were among those with improved ratings, while the DepEd, Ombudsman, DILG, DBM, DOTC, Senate, trial courts, House of Reps, LTO and BOC, received downgraded ratings.
The other 11 had no change in ratings or were rated for the first time only.
“The survey has mixed results. To say ‘corruption surged’ is an outright mistake,” Mangahas underscored.
But despite these results, Mangahas said there are “clear improvements in the public sector” in terms of corruption.
“Compared to the public sector, the private sector is more corrupt. The private sector should be ashamed of itself for not cleaning up as much as public sector,” he said.
Mangahas explained that like the year before, the 2013 survey saw flatness in corruption as well as in honest business practices in the private sector over time.
In summary, Mangahas said the business climate is “good.”
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