A World Bank study has listed the Philippines as among countries that need improvement in governance performance.

In its Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) 2008 report released June 24, the study gave the Philippines a low percentile rank of 10 in political stability and absence of violence, one of the five governance indicators monitored by the study. Its 2008 rank was almost the same as in 2007, which was 11.

Ninety percent of the countries included in the worldwide study scored better than the Philippines in terms of political stability and absence of violence.

The Philippines' rank was one of the lowest in East Asia with Myanmar scoring even better in these indicators.

Country scores in the research project are reported as percentile ranks, with higher values indicating better governance ratings. A country with a percentile rank of 70 would then have 70 percent of the countries included in the study scoring worse and 30 percent of countries scoring better.

The Philippines received a percentile rank of 22 in terms of control of corruption, 34 in rule of law and 43 in voice and accountability. This means that more than half of the countries surveyed scored better than the Philippines in those areas.

Compared with regional neighbors, the Philippines ranked higher in control of corruption compared with Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos but was outranked by other Southeast Asian countries.

The Philippines, meanwhile, got a score of 50 in terms of regulatory quality and 56 in government effectiveness.

The WGI research project, in its report, said it used the perceptions of different groups of respondents as data sources.

"The latest aggregate indicators are based on hundreds of specific and disaggregated individual variables measuring various dimensions of governance, taken from 35 data sources provided by 32 different organizations," said the report.

For the Philippines’ score in the study’s political stability and absence of violence indicator, 11 respondents were used as data sources. The other indicators for the Philippines used 12 to 19 respondents. (For full listing of respondents for the Philippines per indicator click here to see table)

The report said that the data "reflect the views on governance of public sector, private sector and NGO experts, as well as thousands of citizen and firm survey respondents worldwide."

Not surprising

An anti-corruption advocate, meanwhile, was not surprised at the low ranking, one of the lowest in East Asia, indicated for the Philippines in the latest study on governance.

Vince Lazatin, Transparency and Accountability Network executive director, said the Philippines has replaced Indonesia as the lowest-ranking country in the region.

Lazatin said the perception of foreigners, especially investors, of governance in the Philippines has worsened, citing several controversies hounding the government which have not been resolved.

These include the National Broadband Network deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp., the alleged fertilizer fund scam, and the alleged cheating in the 2004 national elections.

Lazatin said that even though ousted President Joseph Estrada was convicted by an anti-graft court of plunder charges, he was granted executive clemency by President Arroyo.

The anti-corruption advocate also said the "lack of transparency" of the administration has made matters worse for Mrs. Arroyo. He said the administration is either numb to these controversies or it simply ignores them.

Lazatin challenged the government, if it does not believe in the study, to release its own study that would disprove the findings in the WGI report.

Lazatin warned that if this trend on the country’s governance continues, Vietnam and Cambodia would soon outrank the Philippines.

‘Perception, not necessarily reality’

Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) Chair Constancia de Guzman, meanwhile, defended the government, saying results of the WGI study are perceptions which do not necessarily reflect reality.

De Guzman said the results and perceptions may just be responses to what are usually reported in media.

The PAGC chief said that is is "ironic" that the Philippines would be tagged as the worst in corruption in the region when the World Bank has even provided a $300,000 grant for the country’s anti-corruption program.

"Common sense naman, kung ika'y donor agency will you dip your finger kung alam mong corrupt ang country na yan?" said De Guzman.

From 2001 to 2007, she said more than 100 hundred government officials were suspended or dismissed. She said these officials were not just "small fry."

She also said that the government is continuing its investigations on the controversial cases such as the fertilizer fund scam.

Northern European countries score highest

Northern European countries posted the highest percentile ranks in the survey. Iceland got 100 in control of corruption and political stability. Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland also scored well in almost all areas.

Among the Philippines’ neigbors, Singapore had the highest score of 96 in terms of control of corruption. Malaysia had 62; Thailand, 44; and Indonesia, 27.

The World Bank said many developing country-governments are making important gains in controlling corruption, and some of them match rich country performance in overall governance measures.

"Some countries are making rapid progress in governance, including in Africa, showing that a measure of 'Afro-optimism' is called for," said Daniel Kaufmann, co-author of the report and director of Governance at the World Bank Institute.

"Progress reflects reforms in those countries where political leaders, policymakers, civil society and the private sector view good governance and corruption control as crucial for sustained and shared growth."

The study also showed that good governance can be found at all income levels, with some emerging economies matching the performance of rich countries on key dimensions of governance.

Over a dozen emerging countries, including Slovenia, Chile, Botswana, Estonia, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Mauritius, and Costa Rica scored higher on key dimensions of governance than industrialized countries such as Greece or Italy. - With reports form Maricar Bautista, ABS-CBN News