The kind of news Blogs are made of....
by TheDivineMissM!
So I found this news clip this morning and a sense of frustration sets in again.
It's systemic. It's a decades old problem. Protesting in the streets wouldn't make a dent.
Would changing the form of government help? Only if it would prevent the moneyed from abusing the system.
The way out? Give people the chance to make a decent living so that the cost of buying their votes would be too much for the corrupt politicians.
And for God's sake, teach people that having too many kids doesn't buy them a place in heaven!
PHILIPPINES STILL AMONG TOP 20 PERCENT OF CORRUPT COUNTRIES
MANILA, October 19, 2005 (STAR) The Philippines was among the top 20 percent of the countries perceived as corrupt Wednesday, according to a report by a global watchdog group's annual list of corruption levels in
159 nations.
The Berlin-based group, Transparency International, had rated the Philippines as 40th among the world's most corrupt nations in its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2005.
The ranking of the Philippines, tied with nine other countries, was down from last year's ranking of 43.
the country had received a CPI score of 2.5, showing a high perception of corruption in the country by business leaders and country analysts. The score was based on 16 surveys from 10 independent institutions to produce a "poll of polls".
According to Transparency International's CPI, more than two-thirds of the 159 nations surveyed scored less than 5 out of a clean score of 10, indicating serious levels of corruption in a majority of the countries surveyed.
Bangladesh and Chad were ranked most corrupt. At the other end of the scale, Iceland was ranked least corrupt.
Corruption undermines efforts to eradicate poverty, with graft by public officials hampering attempts to raise the living standards of the poor, Transparency International said.
"Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty," said Peter Eigen, chairman of the Berlin-based group.
An increase in perceived corruption from 2004 to 2005 can be measured in countries such as Costa Rica, Gabon, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay.
Conversely, a number of countries and territories show noteworthy improvements - a decline in perceptions of corruption - over the past year, including Estonia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Qatar, Taiwan and Turkey.
