Challenges to the Philippine Culture of Corruption

Upon the suggestion of financing institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, corruption has taken centre stage in policy discourse, making corruption the locus of many re-engineering efforts in Philippine governance (Transparency and Accountability Network, internal documents, 2005). Although there are no systematic studies on the extent of economic losses due to corruption, the Ombudsman estimates that the Philippines has lost approximately US$48 billion during the last 20 years, while the Commission on Audit estimates a loss of $44.5 million each year and the World Bank argues that around 20 per cent of the annual budget is lost to corruption (Romero, undated article). Meanwhile, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey reports a popular perception of public institutions riddled with corruption, leading to low public confidence in government (SWS, 2005).