Malacañang promised Monday to intensify its anti-corruption drive after the Washington-based Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) announced it was withholding further financial assistance to the Philippines until the government demonstrated more efforts to curb corruption.

In a statement, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said the “government vows to further intensify its campaign against corruption. We need to show the international community, but most of all our people, that we are committed to ensuring that we are tightening the screws on corruption.”

The availment of a large-scale grant from the MCC hinges on various indicators of good governance, among them combating corruption.

Fajardo said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had doubled the budget of the Office of the Ombudsman since 2007 and signed Republic Act No. 9485, the Anti-Red Tape Act, into law.

RA 9485 aims to cut bureaucratic red tape, clean up government transactions, and impose penalties on violators. She said the President had also repeatedly called on Congress to pass a comprehensive anti-corruption law.

Need everyone’s help

But Fajardo said the business of eradicating corruption in government entailed the help of private citizens. “For our efforts to succeed, we need the support and vigilance of everyone,” she said.

The MCC was put up in 2004 by the US government in response to international calls for bigger US involvement in global development initiatives. It provides financial assistance to help reduce poverty in developing countries.

According to its website, MCC is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it is reinforced by good governance, economic freedom and investments in people.

Before a country can become eligible to receive assistance, MCC looks at its performance on political and civil rights, control of corruption, investments in education and social services, and economic freedom.

In a press statement on its fiscal report for 2009 issued Thursday, the MCC said the Philippines remained eligible for developing a grant or a compact proposal, but said the country should first do more to rid its government of corruption.

The MCC fiscal report said the Philippines had failed to score above the median in 14 out of 17 “indicators” set by the MCC.

Decreasing trends

The Philippines scored only 47 percent in control of corruption. It was also far from the passing grade in health expenditures (19 percent) and primary education (32 percent).

It also showed decreasing trends in political and civil rights, accountability, and economic regulatory quality.

An MCC compact status could have secured significant funding for development projects in the country. In 2006, MCC granted the Philippines $21 million to develop better anti-corruption strategies.

For 2009, Indonesia, Colombia and Zambia passed the mark and were made eligible for funding.

Aside from the Philippines, Jordan, Malawi and Senegal were also denied funding.

Reacting to the news, oppositionist Senator Pia Cayetano said President Arroyo’s administration was “entirely to blame” for the failure to curb corruption.

Cayetano pointed to “the absence of transparency and accountability in government dealings, compounded by the Arroyo administration’s practice of stonewalling every investigation on the numerous scandals involving its top officials.” She said these eroded not only the people’s trust in their leaders, but also our good standing in the international community.

She recalled a similar incident in November 2007 when the World Bank decided to suspend $323 million in soft loans for a Philippine road project due to reports of corruption. With editing by INQUIRER.net