Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez  said Tuesday she is elated by the results of the 2009 Political Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) survey.

In a press statement, Ombudsman Gutierrez said the results of the PERC survey, which showed that the Philippines’ past rating (0 to 10 as worst) improved from 9 in 2008 to 7 in 2009, is a manifestation that the country’s anti-corruption efforts are gaining ground.

The latest PERC survey showed that Indonesia is perceived to be the most corrupt economy in Asia. It was followed by Thailand, Cambodia, India, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, China and Macao.

South Korea ranked eleventh, followed by Japan, US, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The results are based on more than 1,700 responses from 14 Asian economies. PERC explained that the United States and Australia were included for comparison purposes.

Ombudsman Gutierrez said that through the Multi-Sectoral Anti-Corruption Council (MSACC), with the Office of the Ombudsman as lead convenor, various agencies of the government and the private sector as well, combined their efforts in combating corruption using a holistic approach.

She said this resulted in the anti-corruption gains achieved by the country during the previous year. She cited the 73.42 percent conviction rate obtained by the Office of the Ombudsman at the Sandiganbayan in 2008.

As a result of the Integrity Development

Review (IDR) being conducted by the Office on graft-prone agencies, several measures have been instituted which are meant to minimize incidence of graft in said agencies.

Through the joint efforts of the Ombudsman,Civil Service Commission (CSC), Commission on Audit (COA), under the Solana Covenant, certain agencies have already issued their respective Citizen’s Charters, which will make transactions in these agencies easier.

According to PERC, “the actual level of corruption is not as bad as it is often portrayed” and that “talk of corruption in the Philippines has to be discounted since many of the accusations either are grossly exaggerated or completely false.”