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Philippines’ corruption rating under Duterte holds at same level: bad

  • Transparency International report puts country in 115th place out of 180 as it sounds alarm on coronavirus-related graft
  • It says Duterte government’s response to Covid-19 was ‘characterised by abusive enforcement, and major violations of human rights and media freedom’

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President Rodrigo Duterte once vowed to end corruption in the Philippines. Last year, he offered to resign because he said it was impossible to stop. EPA-EFE
Despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign boast that he would eliminate corruption in the Philippines, the country’s rating in Transparency International’s 2020 Corruption Perception Index remained at the same level as last year and one notch lower than when he began his presidency in 2016.
By most accounts, corruption has worsened under Duterte and, by his own admission, the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown to stem its spread have become lucrative sources of graft.

The index, which was released on Thursday by the Berlin-based NGO, gave the Philippines a rating of 34 for 2020, the same score it received last year and a decrease from the 35 in 2016, which was Duterte’s first year in office.

The Philippines’ score was also 34 in 2017 but improved to 36 in 2018. The Philippines shared its 34 score with Moldova, and they were both tied for 115th place out of the 180 countries and territories surveyed.

According to TI, the ratings run from zero, or “highly corrupt” – to 100, or “very clean”. The ratings were derived using expert assessments and surveys of business executives.

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