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CORRUPTION:Root Cause of Poverty in the Philippines
1. BY: JOBELLE L. DELA CRUZ
I. Executive Summary
Poverty is the main concern of the country‟s Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) out of its stated 17 development
goals the United Nation is working on in the Philippines. As
one of the developing countries in the Southeast Asia, it
seems that there is still noticeable slow or inconsistent
growth economically for the past decades given all the
resources available. So by scrutinizing country‟s programs and
projects which seems to be resolvable, there is this historic
issue of corruption that serve as key hindrance in attaining
successful governance. But through the commitment of the
present administration to have an accountable and transparent
government, President Rodrigo Duterte organized Presidential
Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) who will served as the
frontliner in combating corrupt officials in the department
and other public organization.
There were seemingly evidence of the slow progress in
what we called inclusive growth through some researches that
were discovered by the author because public funds were not
used properly. There are also some factors that can justify
the relationship of other poverty factors such as population
growth to poverty and corruption and vice versa.
In the end, the PACC plays a crucial role that will help
Filipinos to uplift their standard of living and eventually
eradicate poverty. Through this policy brief, the author has
been able to recommend and suggest additional information and
proposals on how to improve their core functions and
strengthen their goals and objectives.
II. Introduction
Poverty remains to be the number one challenge in the
Philippines, living in a third world country where around 23M
Filipinos of the population are living below poverty line. It
is according to the study conducted by the World Bank this
July 2021 that poverty is estimated to increase by around 1.4
percentage points in between 2018 and 2020 based on the lower
middle-income poverty line of $3.2 or around Php160.00 per
day. Even before the pandemic strikes, most of Filipinos are
living in the marginalized areas where inclusive growth is not
observed.
THE ROLE OF PRESIDENTIAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION
2. Different researches and studies conducted by many
organizations through analysis of different economists stated
the different causes of poverty in the Philippines such as low
to moderate economic growth for the past 40 years, weakness in
employment generation and the quality of jobs generated,
failure to fully develop the agriculture sector, high levels
of population growth and recurrent shocks and exposure to
risks such as economic crisis, conflicts, natural
disasters,and "environmental poverty"; and with of all these
mentioned and many more not stated causes of poverty it is
seemingly observed that everything can have its solutions in
an effective and efficient way of the government, but
everytime Filipinos seek for the main reason why is it not
happening in the Philippines, the issue of corruption will
always be included in the story.
As a young public servant, at the age of fourteen the
author has been elected as one of the Sangguniang Kabataan
(SK) Councilors in their barangay where she served in one term
or three consecutive years. At that young mind and age, she
was so overwhelmed on her responsibilities as SK official and
on the chance given to them to utilize public funds as part of
their barangay Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), but
eventually during her term she has this curiosity and
confusions on how some of her co-public officials allocated
and utilized public funds, she knew that time that there‟s
something wrong in the system and admit that she was not able
to take any actions regarding those engagements. So in this
policy brief, she would like to prove that government‟s
programs ang projects are astounding, it is those rotten
corrupt public officials who make this country pitiful and
worst.
During this present administration, President Rodrigo
Duterte created Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC)
Under Executive Order No. 43, s. 2017 and its amendment
Executive Order No. 73, s. 2018 who shall directly assist the
President in investigating and/or hearing administrative cases
primarily involving graft and corruption against all
presidential appointees, as defined in Sec. 5 thereof, and to
perform such other similar duties as the President may direct.
The PACC is also authorized to conduct lifestyle checks and
fact-finding inquiries on acts and omissions of all covered
presidential employees, inside and outside of the executive
branch of the government, which may be violative of the
Constitution, or contrary to law, rules and regulations,
and/or constitute serious misconduct tantamount to betrayal of
public trust.
3. The purpose of the commission as observed by the author
is not being implemented to its optimum capacity considering
it was organized three (3) years ago from the present time.
There are still many corrupt officials hiding under their
desks; there are still many stories that are being untold and
lies that remains unfold.
III. Research Problem
According to the Corrruption Perception Index (CPI) in
2020, Philippines ranked as 115th
from the least perceived
corrupt country out of 179 countries in the world. The
perception of corruption in the country for the last 5 years
seems to be consistent on the bottom rank. It seems that data
don‟t just remain as perception because people in the
marginalized areas can feel, see and live with it. In fact,
on the Press release by the Bureau of Treasury this August of
the current year,the National Government‟s (NG) total
outstanding debt stood at P11.61 trillion as of end of July
2021. Of the total debt stock, 30.1% was sourced externally
while 69.9% were domestic borrowings. From the start of 2021,
total outstanding debt has grown by P1.82 trillion or 18.53%.
Imagining that exaggerating amount of fund borrowed by the
Philippine government, but also let‟s take consideration that
those borrowed funds were collated from the past
administrations to present and most funds were used to the
responses of the government from this COVID-19 pandemic. But
it still not convincing that these funds including government
earned funds are being utilized properly and served for the
public used for the what so called economic growth and
development because poverty and corruption has direct
relationship, as one increases the other follows. Given that
big amount of money, if not wasted, its effect can be
obviously seen and feel. There is a big gap of inequality in
the standard of living of Filipinos, those few elites and low
income earners, the gap is increasing as time goes by. Public
funds are not meant to served its purpose, it only benefits
those who have power and some who have the guts to be wealthy
through any way of corruption.
In the AmBisyon 2040, the Philippine government plans to
eradicate extreme poverty by 2040. Furthermore, the government
has implemented various programs and reforms to reduce poverty
by targeting education, healthcare and the overall economy. As
stated, the five ways to combat poverty includes: greater
access to education, greater access to healthcare, family aid,
economic improvement and Build, Build, Build Program. Truly,
all mentioned are solutions in combating extreme poverty, but
it will all be wasted if not implemented properly. Obviously,
4. the status here in the Philippines seems to be stagnant and
same things happened over and over again. The problem is not
economic, not environmental and social it is political and
personal.
IV. Analysis of the Research Finding
The following are some author‟s arguments about specific topic
or issue regarding poverty and corruption:
Massive population growth. The Philippine population rate
is believed to change 1.3 % annually moderately low in
compare to other asian countries. In line with that
growth rate, other countries such as Singapore, New
Zealand and United Arab Emirates have almost the same
growth rate per year, all are developed countries but
manage to maintain their position despite their
population growth. Thus, population is just one factor of
the many causes of poverty but if manage well, little or
will not affect country‟s social status. The case in the
Philippines is that the right of each filipino as a
recipient or beneficiary of public services are not given
to them. Why? Because it already belongs to someone
pocket.
Government programs and projects. It is indeed impressive
how the government from the national level down to the
local crafted and proposed government programs and
projects. But during the implementation, there are
unlawful engagement of some administrators in activities
to manipulate and control its implementation. Examples
are DPWH projects of roads and bridges, oftenly there are
tarpaulins along the road with project costs and some
have even blank approved budget contract (ABC). And as
personal observation of the author with less idea and
knowledge about engineering matter, for her, a 500-meter
road for more than 20M ABC seem to be too much with sub-
standard materials because after a year it will be under
renovation again. Another observation recently is the
construction of „I LOVE (Name of Barangay) thing, the big
question about this project is – “Is this project
appropriate for the current situation?”. Almost all
barangays in different places around the province were
advised to construct this landmark signage with huge
amount of budget is very inappropriate during this time
of pandemic, imagining 100k to 250k budget as landmark in
exchange to more urgent project to response public needs
during pandemic is impulsive decision. Another one is the
issue of DOH in their procurement of laptops is an eye
5. opener how public personnel even in the high level
positions unreasonably exploited public funds for their
personal interests.
Political dynasty. Just like Showbusiness, surnames in
politics seem to be familiar then until now so it can be
assumed that maybe being public officials run naturally
in their bloods. But sometimes, it is not the case
especially in the Philippines because if service is their
main concern, being on a public position will never be
the only option because there are still many ways to
serve the people. It is therefore concluded that most of
them are securing position mainly for power and money. It
justify politicians who spend a lot of personal money
during election to make sure that they will secure their
position without any return/exchange is a sort of
stupidity. Almost higher positioned public officials have
high net worth almost the same to big businessmen in the
country. So if business has politics, it is not still
acceptable politics to consider as a business.
Below are laws provided by the justice system of the
Philippines related to graft and corruption:
1987 Constitution of the Philippines - Article XI -
Accountability of Public Officers
Republic Act No. 6770 - Ombudsman Act of 1989
Republic Act No. 3019 - Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices
Act
Republic Act No. 1379 - An Act Declaring Forfeiture in
Favor of the State Any Property Found To Have Been
Unlawfully Acquired By Any Public Officer or Employee and
Providing for the Proceedings Therefor.
Republic Act No. 6713 - Conduct And Ethical Standards
For Public Officials And Employees
Implementing Rules of RA 6713
Revised Penal Code (Title II) - Crimes Against the
Fundamental Laws of the State
Revised Penal Codes (Title VII) - Crimes Committed by
Public Officers
Presidential Decree 46 - Making it punishable for Public
Officials and Employees to receive, and for private
persons to give gifts on any occasion, including
Christmas
Presidential Decree 749 - Granting Immunity from
Prosecution to Givers of Bribes and other Gifts and to
6. their Accomplices in Bribery and other Graft Cases
Against Public Officers
Republic Act 7080 - An Act Defining and Penalizing the
Crime of Plunder
Presidential Decree 1606, as amended by RA 7975 and RA
8249 - Revising Presidential Decree No. 1486 Creating A
Special Court to be Known as "SANDIGANBAYAN" And For
Other Purposes.
The big question here is, given all of those laws
mentioned above, why corruption is still unending trend in the
country?
V. Conclusion and Recommendation
Corruption is inevitable, it happened even in the
smallest unit of organization in the society around the world.
In fact, it was observed even before Christ time because
naturally human commits sins. They were affected by their
behavior and personality and with their individual
differences. This policy brief seems to be broad in aspect and
hard to justify because it tackle more personal matter within
the topic rather than technical. It is obviously imposible to
proposed a policy, law or bill that will develop self-
discipline, mankindness, honesty and empathy.
Republic Act 9485 also known as the “Anti-Red Tape Act of
2007 should be strengthen to serve its purpose in improving
efficiency in the delivery of government service to the public
by reducing bureaucratic red tape, preventing graft and
corruption, and providing penalties. As remembered, only few
big names were charged guilty as violators under this act,
powers are still abusive to protect personalities and
political alliances are still perceived as protection from
this crime. Public assistance/complaint‟s desk, citizens
charter and transparency seal are not enough evidence to tell
to the public that the oraganization is free from corruption.
A law that will allow to create a committee or bureau
aside from Commission on Audit and PACC that will act as a
regulatory body to fight againsts corruption and increase
transparency and accountability in every government offices
composing of people who are just, fair, honest, disciplined,
brave and God fearing personnel is really a must.
Recently, on September of this year, the Presidential
Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) launched an anti-corruption
7. program for the speedy detection of irregularities in all
levels of government. The program, dubbed Project Kasangga:
Aksyon Kontra Korapsyon, signed by PACC and representatives
from 49 government agencies, creates anti-corruption
coordinating councils (ACCC) within offices and one at a
national level chaired by the Chief Executive. Now, under
Project Kasangga, a National Anti-Corruption Coordination
Council will be created, which will handle PACC linkages with
all the departments and agencies of the Executive Branch of
Government in cascading the objectives of Project Kasangga.
The program aims to gather various government agencies that
have yet to pledge their support for Project Kasangga, as well
as further solidify President Rodrigo Roa Duterte‟s efforts
and advocacy of providing a clean and efficient government for
the Filipinos.
The National Anti-Corruption Coordination Council shall
abide all the laws provided by constitution. Given all the
aforementioned laws if implemented well, will sure help the
governance of each public organization to have a brighter
environment free from anomalies. The author highly recommends
the National Anti-Corruption Coordination Council (NACC)to:
fairly choose representative of each office based on
their good personalities not based on their positions and
will be able to bravely disclose dishonesty of the
organization,
conduct unannounced or surprise audit/inspection in each
public agency regularly
restrain/avoid personal connections/political alliances
for fair investigation
firmly stand on the decision made through the
investigation conducted and make those people paid for
their committed violations based from the weight of their
crimes and make sure that they will be punished (by this
practice, NACC will prove their consistency and gain
trust from the public, also others will be frightened to
commit the same crime for its punishment)
To conclude this policy brief, the author hope that the
PACC and NACC will be successful to their missions and visions
in combating anomalous public servants while protecting the
future of this country. May every Filipino be part of the
change in defending their rights and protecting public
interest in all extent. It will help every Filipino improve
their lives by benefiting and receiving quality public
services. “Ibigay natin ang totoong para sakanila.” If we
really want to grow successfully let the rotten roots be
removed from the tree 😊
