CORRUPTION IN POLITICS STEMS FROM WEAK
PARTY SYSTEM--ANGARA

BALI, INDONESIA - Senator Edgardo J. Angara said the best way to confront political corruption is to clean up political parties first.

"It is the lack of strong ideological base that often compels political parties to resort to money politics in gaining votes on account of their inability to offer a concrete program of action to the voters," Angara said at the 2nd Conference of State Parties to the UNCAC.

According to the Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2007, the general public believes political parties are the most corrupt institutions in society.

"Very few politicians make it on the national scene on their own. In fact, these politicians need to have padrinos to finance their campaign. Perhaps, the time now calls to subsidize political parties for their maintenance as well as fund their campaign in election period so that politicians, once elected, would not be tied to the interests of their financiers," he said.

Angara suggested a certain fund shall be appropriated in the national budget and shall provide subsidy to political parties for their operational expenses and party-building activities. This fund will be used not only for electoral campaign but also for the party's developmental programs.

"But in exchange for this fund, these political parties must now be accountable to the public and subject themselves to strict audit," Angara continued.

"Corruption is not simply a moral issue. It 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," he said.

"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."

Further, a study by Transparency International of 80 local communities showed that corruption was directly harming the health of Filipinos.

It found 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. It also found that children were one-fourth as likely to complete their courses of vaccination.

Angara authored the e-procurement law, which now stands as the Philippine's biggest anti-corruption measure. It overhauls what was then an obsolete and fraud-prone public procurement system - from the purchase of government supplies, to the hiring of consultants, to the bidding and award for government infrastructure contracts. About P25 billion is saved through the application and implementation of the e-procurement law. Angara also created the Ombudsman's Office.

As a member of the executive board of the Ottawa-based Global Organizations of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), Angara chaired the sub-committee which helped draft some of the language of the UNCAC, as well as co-headed the Philippine delegation to Merida, Mexico, which signed the Convention. The Philippine Senate ratified the UNCAC last November 2006, making the Philippines only the second country in Southeast Asia to have done so.