Battle against poverty and corruption: A Tough Test for Noy

“Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.”

The campaign slogan bannered by incoming President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to end poverty by getting rid of corruption in the government will be a tough challenge for the incoming administration to achieve.
Filipinos are hoping that this ain’t nothing more than a campaign slogan and wanted Aquino to act swiftly to fulfill his promise.
A recent study on poverty done by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed that unless the Philippine economy is able to shift to higher growth path, the country might be “stuck in a poverty trap.”
The ADB study, which projected poverty incidence of various Asian countries by 2020, noted that poverty reduction in the Philippines could be limited for the next decade due to the current financial crisis, the report said.
Exports, the report said, may be greatly be affected as the Philippines’ major export partners are in recession namely countries in the European Union, Japan and the United States.
According to the ADB study, the main reason why poverty reduction in the Philippines has been slow compared to other Asian countries is the failure of the economy to grow and “generate quality employment in sectors with large numbers of the poor.”
“Because of a boom and bust cycle of the Philippine economy in the last three decades and only moderate economic growth performance in recent years, employment opportunities have failed to keep up with this growth in the labor force,” the report said.
The study analyzed that this is the reason why the poor are constrained in terms of opportunities to escape deprivation. This also “increased the probability of the non-poor to become poor,” according to the report.
Failure to sustain high levels of economic growth explained the unavailability of jobs in the country. “Without job opportunities, people will not be able to earn incomes and are vulnerable to poverty,” the report stated.
On the other hand, the World Bank (WB) reported that corruption in the Philippines reduces the effectiveness of efforts to reduce poverty and assist growth.
The bank proposed a nine-point approach to fighting corruption in the Philippines including the enhancement of sanctions for corruption, targeting selected departments and agencies, and increasing public oversight and supporting judicial reform.
Other approaches are the reduction of opportunities for corruption by policy reforms and deregulation, reforming campaign finance, reforming budget processes, improving meritocracy in the civil service, and developing partnerships with the private sector.
The WB said that anticorruption efforts should focus on preventing and eliminating root causes of corruption, but government’s capacity to detect corruption and sanction corrupt practices should also be strengthened.
The goal is to change the current perception of corruption in the Philippines—from a “low-risk, high-reward” activity to a “high-risk, low-reward activity.”
The WB also said that the private sector – as a major source of funds used for corrupt purposes – has to be mobilized to combat corruption.
Involving the private sector will not only allow more sophisticated and sensitive policy responses to corruption to be developed but will also put pressure on the private sector to raise its own standards of behavior, the report said.
A government-private sector partnership against corruption should be formed to design anticorruption strategies in vulnerable departments such as customs, taxation, industrial policy, infrastructure, and investment.
The government must be engaged in a dialogue with the private sector on how to solve the collective action problem associated with bribery: how to prevent some firms from continuing to bribe when others stop, thereby creating incentives for the others to revert to bribery again.
The WB also recommended the development and implementation of company codes of conduct and ensuring their effectiveness through internal control mechanisms, personnel training, and sanctions.
Problems of corruption embedded within the broader system might be explicitly addressed through joint government, congressional, and judicial reform efforts.
As reported recently in the media, once Aquino becomes president, his first order of the day would be to swiftly convene the Judicial, Executive, Legislative Advisory and Consultative Council (JELAC) as part of pursuing judicial reforms of his new government.
Through judicial reform, Aquino believes that deficiencies in the justice system shall be addressed, although this is not a promise of a perfect system.
The reform could also provide that members of the justice system be compensated accordingly in exchange for performing well and to give some measure to insulate them from corruption.
Created in 2008, JELAC’s primary function is to serve as the forum and venue for the representatives of the three branches of government “to undertake measures on matters affecting the primacy of the rule of law; to identify the problems and issues; and to formulate solutions and to implement the same.”
A survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) and TV-5 showed that nearly three out of five Filipinos expect better governance under the incoming administration while nearly half believe the quality of life will improve in the next 12 months.
But about one in four Filipinos also could not – or refused to – answer questions about their expectations of governance, quality of life and the economy in the next 12 months.
When asked about the quality of governance under the next administration, 57.8 percent of respondents in the SWS-TV5 poll said it “will get better,” while 1.9 percent said it “will get worse.”
Some 15.3 percent said it will “be the same as now” while 25 percent “cannot” or “refused” to answer.
On the other hand, 49.7 percent said they expect their quality of life “will be better” in the coming 12 months, while 23 percent said it will be the same.
About 1.8 percent said they expect their quality of life “will be worse” while 25.6 percent cannot or refused to answer.
Filipinos are hoping that Aquino will be able to lead a new era of governance that will finally deliver the country from the quagmire of corruption that requires new approaches and strategies with courage, passion and political will.