KIKO TO MALACAÑANG: DENIAL WON'T MAKE CORRUPTION GO AWAY, START INCREASING CONVICTION RATE OF COURTS

Following Malacañang's dismissal of an international organization's statement saying the Philippines is perceived as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, Senate Majority Leader and Independent senator Kiko Pangilinan today condemned the Palace for downplaying the issue.

"Southeast Asia Corporate Network of The Economist Intelligence Unit's assertion does not only match what Transparency International and other organizations have been telling us for years, it also only repeats what everyone of us already knows. The challenge for us is how to take these observations and turn the situation around," Kiko said.

"We cannot paint a rosy picture for the international community if reality shows otherwise. Sabi nga nila, the first step to recovery is to admit there's a problem. Kung mismong mga leader natin ay hindi matanggap ang katotohanan, paano pa natin lalabanan ang katiwalian sa gobyerno?"Kiko asked.

President Arroyo disagreed with the latest assessment of corruption in the Philippines saying the perception of widespread corruption was the media's creation. The Transparency International's latest Corruption Perception Index reveals the Philippines at 141 among the 180 countries surveyed. Its score of 2.3 (on a scale where 10 means perfectly clean) is the lowest it has received since the survey was started in 1995.

"We should all take reports such as this as a constant reminder and as a performance indicator, so that public officials are motivated to clean their ranks and serve better. We need to find solutions and offer results. We need to think out of the box to find creative ways of addressing illegal acts in government," Kiko asserted.

"Instead of denying the state of corruption, government should focus on increasing the Judiciary's conviction rate from an embarrassingly low 20% to about 60% at the very least. The reason why corruption is so rampant in this country is because they think they can get away with their illegal acts. Punish more, and punish swiftly, that's the only way we'll see the end of corruption in the Philippines," Kiko ended.