BERLIN, Germany — If corruption is not addressed, it would breed a culture of poverty, inequality, poor public governance, and even environmental degradation, anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) said recently.

TI Senior Policy Coordinator for Policy and Research Craig Fagan aired the warning before the 22 Asian and African journalists who visited the IT headquarters in the German capital of 3.5 million people.

“No to corruption” has long been a longtime battlecry of TI, the worldwide non-partisan civil society organization campaigning against corruption, since its birth in 1993.

He lamented that corruption has long been a pervasive phenomenon nowadays and has become an innate lifestyle of those powerful people who keep abusing their power for their personal gain at the expense of development and democracy.

Fagan said the TI is not closing its doors to governments, civil society groups, companies, and even private individuals to fully carry out its mandate as a global coalition waging war against corruption. “We are keeping the channels open to make a huge impact.” He noted that the wholistic approach of stamping out corruption involves both the public and private sectors of the society.

Though the largest portion of its funds comes from some government development agencies, including those of Germany, United Kingdom, and Sweden, the TI is still “keeping its credibility” and never allows anyone or any government to dip its fingers into the TI’s anti-corruption initiatives.

Credibility matters when one fights corruption, Fagan said.

‘Controversial’ CPI

Of all the TI’s indices, the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) seems to be the most controversial after some quarters questioned its validity, arguing that it should be evidence-based.

Fagan explained that the 2009 CPI, which ranks countries in terms of the degree of corruption among public officials and politicians as perceived by business people and country analysts, is based on corruption-related data from 13 different expert and business surveys.

In the last year’s CPI ranking of 180 countries, the Philippines ranked 139th, along with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Manila’s CPI score of 2.4 was seen as an improvement from the 2008’s ranking of 141 with a score of 2.3. The score ranges from zero, which means highly corrupt to 10, which have low levels of corruption.

TI Regional Director for Africa and Middle East Chantal Uwimana said the 2009 perceptions index received both negative and positive reactions governments.

She said while Uganda constructively took its ranking as 130th, Cameroon, on the other hand, reacted negatively with its 146th spot having a CPI score of 2.2.

Contrary to Cameroon, the Philippine government welcomed as a development the .1 notch improvement in its CPI score.

Keeping an eye

Transparency International is keeping an eye on President Aquino to see if he is fulfilling his promises to promote transparency and address the stigma of corruption in the Philippine bureaucracy.

Samantha Grant, TI’s program coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, said she is hopeful that the Aquino administration would stand by its principles of weeding out e corruption to improve the lives of the poor Filipinos.

“I think that people are quite hopeful and he needs to deliver on the promises he made. It is important that we see results,” she said.

“I think the time is ripe, and it is up to him to bring about change,” she said.

Grant was in the Philippines last February, three months before the national and local elections, where she said she personally heard Aquino, promising to stamp out corruption and promote human rights, along with other presidential candidates, including Sen. Jamby Madrigal and Olongapo Councilor JC de los Reyes during the Second Integrity and Human Rights Forum in Makati City.

During the forum, the TI official said the incoming 15th President of the Philippines would face the huge challenge of addressing the apparent institutionalized corruption in the country.

CPI fires up ‘reforms’

Grant expressed optimism that Aquino, whose integrity has not been tainted by corruption, could introduce reforms in the bureaucracy, and if his government would sincerely implement anti-corruption drive, the Philippines’ ranking in the CPI would “possibly” be changed.

“It takes a long time for this change to be reflected on the CPI even when there is a lot of positive work being done. Sometimes, it drives more attention to the problem or makes people more aware of the problem. So, in terms of whether there is a chance or not, I don’t know. But there is a possibility of making change, I hope,” she said when asked about the chances of the Philippines to improve its CPI ranking.

Among the five countries seen as least corrupt in the 2009 CPI were New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden, and Switzerland. While, war-torn countries, including Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Iraq landed on the list of most corrupt countries.

While the 2009 CPI focused on the corruption and private sector, this year’s Global Corruption Report will tackle the corruption risks related to tackling climate change. The report

will be launched in October in London.

Ineffective UNCAC implementation

Grant also challenged all the signatories of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), including the Philippines, to fulfill its commitments under the first legally binding anti-corruption instrument. The UNCAC, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2003 and entered into force in 2005, mandated all the 146 state- parties to implement wide-ranging anti-corruption measures.

“Implementing what is in that convention, I think, is something that the governments should give a lot of attention,” she said.

If all nations effectively and religiously implement the Convention, somehow, the levels of corruption would have been eased out, and that poor people won’t suffer from its pangs. It is always the poor people who have been adversely affected by this lingering problem.

Grant even lamented that some journalists were killed because of their keen and pure intention to expose corruption in the government. While some journalists risked their lives, others are in fear of their lives to engage in reporting corruption.