BY VICTOR REYES and RAYMOND AFRICA
GOVERNMENT leaders yesterday vowed to work harder to curb corruption in the military following the “C” rating that it got in the Government Defence Integrity Index 2020 report of Transparency International.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana welcomed the “moderate risk,” or “Band C” rating, even as he said that he has yet to fully review the data and methodology that Transparency International, a global movement working to end the injustice of corruption, used in grading the country.
In a report dated November 16, the Transparency International said 62 percent of countries around the world are at “high risk of defence and security corruption.”
It gave the Philippines a C rating, along with countries like the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, among others.
“Countries that score poorly in the Government Defence Integrity (GDI) have weak or non-existent safeguards against defence sector corruption and are more likely to experience conflict, instability, and human rights abuses,” said Transparency International.
“The results came as global military spending has increased to some US$2 trillion annually. Fueling the scale and opportunity for corruption,” it added.
It said that countries in risk areas perform badly in military operations as they need to strengthen their safeguards against corruption and “remove the veil of secrecy that so often prevents meaningful oversight of the defence sector.”
“It’s critical that they embed anti-corruption at the core of all military operations to stop corruption and its devastating impact on civilians around the world,” said Natallie Hogg, director of Transparency International’s Defence and Security Programme.
Lorenzana said: “We will consider the information and recommendations to improve our mechanisms and processes in our bid to eradicate corruption, especially in the defense and security sector.”
“We believe that our Defense System of Management, which institutionalizes our judicious use of resources in our acquisitions for the continued improvement of our defense capabilities, as well as our consistent upholding of transparency and accountability in all our procurement processes played a great part in achieving our rating by Transparency International,” he also said.
Lorenzana attributed the ranking to the “level of professionalism of our AFP personnel,” noting that military personnel are “continuously advancing and driving the organization towards more efficiency and effectiveness in all our operations.”
In a statement, acting presidential spokesman Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Duterte administration has been taking steps to curb corruption in the military.
Among these steps, he said, was the relief of several ranking military officials who have been accused of corrupt activities which took place in military hospitals in 2018.
“We credit this to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s zero tolerance against allegations of official malfeasance. PRRD relieved numerous high-ranking military officials over alleged corruption activities taking place at a military hospital in 2018. In his weekly Talk to the People Address from November 2020 to June 2021, the President announced the dismissal of 261 and suspension of 187 government officials and employees,” Nograles said.
Nograles said the Duterte administration is taking all the necessary steps to stop corruption in government, including the military sector.
