CORRUPTION: FILIPINOS ARE RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE

As billions vanish into graft, outrage rises against a system where corruption runs far and deep

- BY JAY HILOTIN | Senior Assistant Editor

A seething fury is coursing through the heart of the Philippines, a nation teetering on the edge of a volcanic eruption of outrage against rampant corruption.

The 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index lays bare the grim truth: the Philippines languishes at 114th out of 180 nations, its dismal score of 33 out of 100 a stark betrayal of trust, far below the global and Asia-Pacific benchmarks.

Though a faint flicker of progress glimmers compared to years past, the insidious rot of public sector plunder festers, strangling job creation and suffocating the economy in its iron grip.

Here are 5 things to know about Philippine corruption:

Billions of dollars in lost value, opportunity

Transparency International, a Senate probe and various watchdogs have exposed how tens of billions of dollars (hundreds of billions of pesos) tagged for government projects, including climate-adaptation flood controls, have been lost to organised theft, allegedly involving senators, congressmen and government officials (engineers) with estimates reaching as high as 1.089 trillion pesos (about $19 billion) since 2023 alone.

Corruption bleeds Filipino taxpayers