STRICT, CONSISTENT ENFORCEMENT OF EXISTING LAWS
WILL CURB CORRUPTION - ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today said corruption can be best addressed only if existing laws are strictly and consistently enforced.

"We don't need more laws on corruption. What we need is to strictly enforce existing laws. The Philippines has the most number of anti-corruption laws among Asian countries. So, all we have to do is to enforce them," said Angara, who chairs Senate Committee on Finance.

He added, "Every year, we lose P100 billion due to corrupt procurement of public goods and services," he lamented. "When translated to the basic needs of Filipinos, corruption has cost 520 million textbooks, 63,000 new classrooms or 1,500 kilometers of farm to market roads per year."

In the recent Index of Economic Freedom, the Philippine economy positioned in the bottom half when it ranked 104th out of 183 countries and 20th freest out of 41 Asia Pacific states. According to Washington-based think tank The Heritage Foundation, the primary reasons for having an 'unfree economy' is corruption, foreign investment barriers, red tape and high public perception of judicial, executive, and legislative corruption.

This year's economic freedom index gainers were Hong Kong (90), Singapore (87.1), Australia (82.6), Ireland (82.2), New Zealand (82), the United States (80.7), and Canada (80.5).

Meanwhile, a study from Transparency International states that 80 local communities showed that corruption is directly harming the health of Filipinos. It found out that for every 10 percent increase in corruption, immunization rates dropped as much as 20 percent, waiting time in public clinics increased by as much as 30 percent and user satisfaction dropped 30 percent. Also, children were one-fourth as likely to complete their courses of vaccination.

"Corruption is not simply a moral issue. It attacks the quality of governance and national stability by undermining the political process. It creates social divisiveness and promotes social inequality and conflict. To top it all, corruption is an adverse factor on our fight against poverty. It robs our people of limited resources which we could have used to build classrooms or allocate for health spending," said Angara, who principally authored and sponsored the Government Procurement Reform Act that stands as the Philippine's biggest anti-corruption measure in history.

In addition, Angara believes that corruption breeds public distrust and encourages disregard for the law.