The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports:
The shroud of secrecy surrounding high-level government contracts has led to the rise of “grander” and more lucrative corrupt practices in the Arroyo administration, anticorruption crusaders said Tuesday. But red tape and petty corruption, such as bribery, have decreased because of the anti-red tape executive order issued by Malacañang last year, Vincent Lazatin, executive director of Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN), said.
The executive order reduced transaction fees and trimmed bureaucratic dealings in several frontline agencies. “Bribery is going down. But the grand or bigger types of corruption are on the rise,” said Segundo Romero, a senior fellow at the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), which presented Tuesday corruption prevention studies under its Corruption Prevention Action Project.
Everybody in this town hates corruption. That collective distaste is real. I can almost taste it. Yet, given the choice to pay off the traffic enforcer or accept a ticket, most would take the former. Most would choose to bribe someone at the Bureau of Internal Revenue rather than pay the right amount of taxes. Pay a small bribe rather than add to some corrupt congressman’s largesse?
The Filipino conscience is at odds with itself. Here’s a twisted application of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is trying to do. We hate corruption and yet we do it because it’s convenient.
Vince Lazatin was a fund manager for more than 10 years. We spoke more than a week ago, and I pointed out that he seemed more grounded and looked more fulfilled working in the NGO sector as president of Transparency and Accountability Network. Apparently, fighting corruption is the job he had longed for, more fulfilling than the rush that comes from fighting the herd in financial markets. May your tribe increase, Vince.
Let me state the obvious. Corruption is not about some congressman’s pocket or some government official’s retirement package. It is an insidious tax that affects everyone. It adds to the cost of doing business and raises the cost of goods and services. It’s one of the reasons Philippine sovereign bonds are still considered junk bonds in global markets. It’s one of the reasons why small businesses do not survive.
The flip side is, elimination of corruption can drop the price of your pansit. It’s as simple as that.
In other news, Noet Ravalo expects more opportunities for individual investors arising from the SONA. He expects higher returns through an increase in interest rates and from a stronger currency. He expects the government to issue more debt securities to fund all the roads and highways the President wants to build. We may also see more local governments issuing more municipal bonds. He sees more development of the forward market and the wider tradability of bankers/trade acceptances.
“These products directly help our exporters/importers and would alleviate the volatility on spot (current) market prices.” Certainly, these products represent opportunities for retail investors to better participate in the financial market. But perhaps beyond purely personal finance considerations, they also provide a way for individuals to be active partners in funding the desired vision for the country.
I’m fighting some pessimism here. Let’s hope you’re right.
Other bloggers: Get Rich Slowly has an answer for Peter who is worried about his credit score (well, in a way). Yeah, its not the end of the world when your credit score is down in the pits. But more vigilance is needed. Investopinoy says you save on electricity cost if you use the rice cooker instead of the microwave. Dave Llorito says the NBN and Cyber-Ed projects have bloated costs and should be dropped.
Oh and following Dave’s gracious lead, I would also thank Manolo Quezon for inviting me to be a guest on The Explainer over at ANC to talk about Francswiss and explain about pyramid scams. It was fun to play with the friendly orcs, play money and children’s blocks to show why pyramiding is doomed from the beginning, Manolo. It was a great experience, and thanks for promoting MoneySmarts! Unfortunately, I was nervous ALL the time. hehe. I don’t know how you do it so well.
- November 2009 (2)
- October 2009 (1)
- September 2009 (4)
- August 2009 (5)
- July 2009 (2)
- June 2009 (4)
- May 2009 (1)
- April 2009 (5)
- March 2009 (15)
- February 2009 (19)
- January 2009 (19)
- December 2008 (23)
- November 2008 (19)
- October 2008 (24)
- September 2008 (23)
- August 2008 (13)
- July 2008 (21)
- June 2008 (16)
- May 2008 (15)
- April 2008 (23)
- March 2008 (16)
- February 2008 (26)
- January 2008 (15)
- December 2007 (12)
- November 2007 (20)
- October 2007 (23)
- September 2007 (20)
- August 2007 (27)
- July 2007 (28)
- June 2007 (15)
- May 2007 (22)
- April 2007 (21)
- March 2007 (15)
- alternative investments (2)
- banking (36)
- blog manners (3)
- blogging (3)
- bonds (10)
- books (2)
- budgeting (45)
- buying tips (23)
- career (12)
- charity (4)
- consumer issues (6)
- corporate governance (2)
- credit cards (32)
- customer service (1)
- debt (16)
- economy (38)
- education (3)
- Educational plan (1)
- emergency planning (3)
- entrepreneurship (8)
- estate planning (4)
- family finance (99)
- Financial Planning (84)
- food (4)
- forex (15)
- Frugality Week (23)
- Gifts (3)
- Government (2)
- Guest Posts (3)
- Holidays (12)
- insurance (22)
- Investing (143)
- kids and money (20)
- Lifestyle (5)
- Marriage (3)
- memorial plans (1)
- men and finance (1)
- Millionaires (75)
- Money Makeover (15)
- Money Myth Busters (23)
- MoneySense (4)
- Mutual Funds (8)
- network marketing (1)
- OFW (34)
- Plain Vanilla/CFA (3)
- poverty (6)
- Pre-Need (12)
- Pre-need industry (1)
- Quiz (1)
- Quotes (12)
- real estate (5)
- remittance (1)
- retirement (19)
- Saving money (67)
- scams (20)
- shopping (24)
- Smart Habits (8)
- So What Chocnut? (67)
- spending habits (57)
- SSS/GSIS (2)
- stock market (25)
- subprime (15)
- taxes (5)
- uitfs (1)
- Uncategorized (4)
- vacations (5)
- wala lang (6)
- weddings (1)
- weekly roundup (2)
- who's who in personal finance (1)
- women and finance (11)
- Word of the Week (4)
- Workplace (3)
15 Feedbacks on "Can corruption jack up the price of your pansit?"
paetechie
Transparency’s corruption index really affects the cost of doing business in the country. it’s like assigning a monetary value to the risk here.
higher interest rates for risky countries.ask risk assessment experts
PETER PAUL
NOTHING TO DO WITH PANSIT BUT A LOT WITH CORRUPTION. BONGBONG MARCOS IS TESTIFYING AGAINST LUCIO TAN IN A WEIRD BID TO “RECOVER” TAN’S
EMPIRE SAYING THAT A BIG PART OF THAT EMPIRE BELONGS TO HIS FATHER, THE REAL MACOY.
IT WILL BE INTERESTING IF TAIPAN LUCIO ALSO DECIDES TO TESTIFY AGAINST THE MARCOSES.
g
“there is no honor among thieves”
marimar
Not only of pancit but the other basic commodities as well. Moreover, corruption goes hand in hand with inefficient governance as well as high cost of doing business. Corrupt people usually delays their services (contributes to inefficiency) to demand additional “fees” ( contributes to higher cost of doing business)
Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose » Blog Archive » Emergency powers
[...] the blogosphere, Money Smarts points to Transparency International saying petty corruption is actually down, in the Philippines, [...]
Vincent Lazatin
Hi Salve!
Just read this now. Thanks for the support and kind words. Corruption IS a tax on economic activity that creates inefficiencies, an unlevel playing field, and results in poor quality of service (especially for those who need it most, the impoverished) among so many others.
More power to you and to us all!
regards,
Vincent
Salve
hi vince, from your vantage point, do you think corruption can be eradicated? you must have quite an interesting repertoire of stories because of your line of work!
john young
Corruption is inherent in humans, and corruption perse is economics in progression if the money stolen is not stashed away in foreign banks…Americans are the most corrupt people on earth, review how Bush junior got his millions by opening a bogus company and he went on to use this as his capital to go into politics, look at Cheney and Halliburton where he got his capital, and Halliburton is still alive and moved it’s HQ to a middle east country just recently, because it is afraid of being audited, Bataan nuclear plant is one example how brainwashed Filipinos are, they gave bribes to Marcos, where do you think they will get this back? Corruption goes to ways, One giving another is receiving. Yes Virginia, corruption is not inherent in Filipinos alone, but you are being demeaned by all those mainstream US media, like it is a Filipino disease, when in fact it is a worldwide problem and inherent in human behaviour.
john young
Hitler’s banker is Prescott Bush, the grandfather of the present US president. Roverer is Hitler’s Death camp builder and is the grandfather of Karl Rove, Bush’s campaign manager…and they masterminded the invasion of Iraq to steal their OIL, greed is corruption in itself…Did I mention, Hitler is a CHRISTIAN?
john young
Germans pray to Jesus Christ before they gassed their victims, do you know this? Germans are mostly Catholics during world war II…Hitler pray to the Lord too..and he asked for HIS forgiveness just before he committed suicide.
john young
WASHINGTON - Karl Rove, President Bush’s close friend and chief political strategist, plans to leave the White House at the end of August, joining a lengthening line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of the administration.
A longtime member of Bush’s inner circle, Rove was nicknamed “the architect” by the president for designing the strategy that twice won him the White House.
oda
@john young.
i think your comments fit better on other websites/blogs with the same theme/topic…while your comments here have been a hoot to read, they have no relevance whatsoever to the topic you post them under.
where do you get your info anyway? the national enquirer?
john young
Sorry, I got carried away, pero what I’m driving at is corruption is greed, human nature not a Filipino disease, you must dig deeper to know that what US mainstream media don’t report, that Americans’ specially whites are more sophisticated in doing their corruption, novice tayo pagdating diyan, kung si ERAP is good at keeping his corruption, siguradong makakaligtas siya…
john young
Sa Tsina corruption is talamak din, pero the economy is booming…corruption can help an economy, pero kailangan naka channel iyan internally, hindi externally…I’m not for corruption, but greed is human nature…
john young
Ang nakakatawa is kung kailan pinagpapatay ng tsina ang mga nag nanakaw, ngayon pa sila nag karoon ng inflation, highest inflation in 10 years..can you decipher this? My point here is back sa mga pi nost ko, bakit ko nabanggit si Hitler and et al…one must dig deeper sometimes akala mo lang irrelevant, pero actually tahi-tahi iyan…
Please Leave a Comment!