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The Duterte administration's anti-corruption plans
Corruption takes place when a person has the power to
dispense certain actions or render services that other parties needs. Voters
who sell their ballots in exchange for money and politicians buying them are
both engaged in electoral corruption. Similarly, procurement officers who favor
certain suppliers even if others can offer the same products or services at
lower prices are also committing corruption.
Elevate the scene to a city or country level, and we
can see or suspect large-scale corruption in various levels. Like a cabinet
secretary favoring a particular supplier of construction materials and
equipment, or arms and soldier uniforms, or school buildings and textbooks, or
hospital equipment and medicines, even if other suppliers can deliver those
goods and services at a lower price and/or better quality, corruption occurs.
To reduce or eliminate corruption, the process of
procurement and signing of contracts should be made as transparent as possible.
And the possibility of prosecution and imprisonment for wrongdoing should also
be made as certain as possible. Because while the punishment can be as severe
like the death penalty but if the chance of being caught and prosecuted is very
small, then people will remain corrupt.
During the BusinessWorld Economic Forum last July 12,
2016, Department of Finace (DoF) Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III outlined
some important anti-corruption measures of the Duterte administration. Among
these are the following:
1. Reduce income tax (personal and corporate), raise the
income tax exemption, all in at P1 million a year. This will reduce corruption
in the payment and collection of income taxes, broaden the tax base and hence,
can actually raise revenues overall.
2. Rationalize import permit papers, reduce the number of
signatures, conduct random audit of shipments, and undertake certain processes
outside Manila ports. This will reduce corruption at the Bureau of Customs
(BoC).
3. Accelerate the Run After the Tax Evaders (RATE), Run
After the Smugglers (RATS), and Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS)
programs of the DoF. Undersecretary Gil Beltran was appointed as the anti-red
tape czar of the Department tasked to cut the transaction processes at the BIR,
BoC, and other agencies under the DoF.
4. Maintain transparency in all dealings — the Executive
Order (EO) on Freedom of Information (FoI) that will cover the Executive
Department will be signed very soon. This will encourage zero tolerance for
corruption.
There are other proposals and programs to reduce
corruption at the DoF and other agencies, but the above were highlighted in his
speech that day.
These are good proposals. Few permits and bureaucratic
signatures can lead to a leaner and smaller government. Instead of 8 or 10
directors in one bureau that require 8 or 10 signatures, make it 4 or 5 and the
transaction procedures will significantly improve. The number of officials and
their offices will also decline and hence, the need for taxes and fees to keep
them going will also be reduced. If people have more money in their pockets
because government taxation and mandatory fees have declined, that is already
one form of public service. Concrete, down to earth public service.
The extent of corruption in the Philippines is captured
in various international reports and studies that are reported annually. One
such important report is Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption
Perception Index (CPI). TI interviews thousands of expats in many countries
worldwide and see their perception of corruption or absence of it in the
countries where they do business.
Other selected reports are also included in a separate
table by TI. For this piece, four of such reports are included in the table
below. These are the (a) World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Executive Opinion Survey
(EOS), (b) World Justice Project’s (WJP) Rule of Law Index (RLI), (c) Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU), and (d) IHS Global Insights (GI).
The Philippines has consistently scored only between 34
to 38 over the last four years of TI’s CPI annual reports. So out of 167
countries covered in the 2015 Report, the Philippines ranked 95th or within the
lower half of the countries covered. And the Philippines’ low ranking is
affirmed in its low score in the four other reports.
I am hoping that reforms initiated by the DoF and other
departments of the Duterte administration will be implemented and sustained for
the next six years. There will be significant improvement in the country’s
corruption perception and reduction in actual practices of corruption in many
government agencies, from local to national, and from the Executive to the Legislative
and Judiciary.
Transparent and lean government is good. It will be
beneficial for businesses and taxpayers and good for the officials and ordinary
personnel in government. Trust and respect for both sides will also improve.
Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. (@noysky on Twitter) is the head
of Minimal Government Thinkers and a SEANET Fellow.
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See also:
BWorld 71, Free trade and higher income, July 11, 2016
BWorld 72, Economic integration and disruption, July 25, 2016
BWorld 73, Transco and the big beneficiaries of feed in tariff, July 27, 2016
BWorld 73, Transco and the big beneficiaries of feed in tariff, July 27, 2016
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