National News SEC. MARTIN ANDANAR PCOO
NEWS CORNER
Drop in corruption index motivation for PH to improve: PCOO MANILA Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Tuesday said the Philippines’ lower ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) last year will serve as a motivation for the government to “improve” in its efforts to curb corruption.
our anti-corruption drive, as the dealing with these offenses become tougher and require bolder actions…However, we will use this as a motivation for us to further improve the initiatives in our fight against corruption,” Andanar said in a statement. Andanar also dismissed a Jan. 24 article published by American business magazine Forbes which claims the Philippines is now “more corrupt” under the Duterte administration as “malicious, poorly-researched, and distorted”. He further said the article was meant to discredit and undermine the efforts and initiatives of the Duterte administration in curbing corruption. The Forbes’ article titled “The Philippines is getting a more corrupt and less democratic state under President Rodrigo Duterte” cited the Philippine ranking in the CPI.
It claimed that corruption and political oppression in the Philippines stay “intact,” supposedly preventing the country from “developing modern infrastructure, attracting foreign Andanar made this comment capital, lowering unemployment, after the Philippines fell by 14 notches sustain(ing) economic growth, and in the 2019 CPI, ranking 113th out of escap(ing) poverty.” 180 countries from 99th in 2018. Contrary to the report, Andanar The Philippines got a score of 34 said the Duterte administration on a scale of zero to 100, where zero has placed several mechanisms is “highly corrupt” and 100 is “very and initiatives to curb corruption, clean”. including the creation of bodies such as the Freedom of Information “We may have hit a roadblock on (FOI) Office, Anti-Red Tape Authority,
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Caraga Infocus
February 1-7, 2020
