MANILA, Philippines — A review of surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) in 2016 showed that the Bureau of Customs (BoC) was the least sincere government agency in fighting corruption.

The data was shown in the 2017 SWS Survey Review, a summary of last year's social weather based on surveys conducted by the pollster in 2016. The SWS presented the review on Tuesday at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City.

Businessmen surveyed by the SWS last year rated the BoC as the least sincere among the different agencies of the government in fighting corruption. The BoC obtained a rating of -68 which was described as “very bad” by the SWS.

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) was the second worst in this category. It got a sincerity rating of -47, which was “bad” based on the descriptors of the survey firm.

Six government agencies meanwhile got “poor” ratings in the survey review. These were the House of Representatives with -28, Bureau of Internal Revenue with -27, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) with -25, Department of Public Works and Highways with -22, Philippine National Police with -13 and the Department of Budget and Management with -10.

However, the same survey review showed that more agencies and bureaus of the government got neutral to good ratings.

Neutral ratings were obtained by eight government agencies. These were the Department of Agriculture with -9, the Department of the Interior and Local Government with -7, Senate and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources with -3, trial courts with 6, Presidential Commission on Good Government with 8 and government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and the Finance department with 9.

The nine agencies of the government that got moderate ratings were: the Armed Forces of the Philippines (10), Commission on Elections (12), city/municipal government (14), barangay (18), Justice department (20), Government Service Insurance System (21), Sandiganbayan (21), Department of Social Welfare and Development (26) and the Commission on Audit (29).

Nine agencies also got good sincerity ratings. These were the Ombudsman (30), Supreme Court (30), Social Security System (30), Department of Education (32), Civil Service Commission (32), Department of Health (37), Office of the President (37), Department of Labor and Employment (38) and the Department of Trade and Industry (43).

Businessmen gave a “very good” rating to the Securities and Exchange Commission which got 55.

SWS uses the following descriptors for its ratings: +70 or above “excellent;” +50 to +69 “very good;” +30 to +49 “good;” +10 to +29 “moderate;” +9 to -9 “neutral;” -10 to -29 “poor;” -30 to -49 “bad;” -50 to -69 “very bad;” -70 or below “execrable.”

Less corruption under Aquino than Arroyo

The same review also found that there was less corruption during the time of President Benigno Aquino III than his predecessor Gloria Arroyo, based on three surveys of businessmen about corruption.

The SWS showed data on surveys on the extent of corruption in the public sector (2000-2016), the last time there was personal knowledge of public sector corruption in own sector of business (2005-2016) and the number of companies in own line of business that give bribes to win public sector contracts (2000-2016).

In terms of the extent of corruption in the public sector in 2016, 63 percent of the respondents said that there was “a lot” of it while 32 percent said there was “some” corruption in the public sector. This rating was worse than what the Aquino government got in 2013. That time, 56 percent of the respondents said there was “a lot” while 38 said there was “some” corruption in the public sector.

The 2016 numbers were also higher than in 2012. Then, 43 percent of the respondents answered that there was “a lot” while 44 percent said that there was “some” corruption in the public sector.

Meanwhile, SWS survey showed a higher number of businessmen reporting perceived corruption in government during the Arroyo administration. In 2009, 64 percent reported that they think there was a lot of corruption while 32 answered that there was some. The same percentage (64) reported that they think there was a lot of corruption in 2008 while 31 said there was some.

During the Arroyo administration, the highest percentage of respondents who think there was a lot of corruption in government was in 2001, the start of her term, with 77 percent while 19 percent said there was some.

Arroyo served as president from 2001 to 2010 while Aquino's term was from 2010 to 2016. — Audrey Morallo