The Philippines needs to jail corrupt officials and seize their assets to show it is serious about taking on the endemic corruption that has hobbled its development and investment, a leading campaigner said. Incoming president Benigno Aquino III should set up an independent anti-corruption body, and public attitudes to those convicted of crimes had to change, Transparency International's co-founder Michael Hershman told a Makati Business Club forum. “There is a need to go after those who have robbed and stolen from this country,” the former soldier said, pointing to studies showing 20 percent of the government's budget is lost to corruption. “They must be held accountable, and this time it has to be done for real. They must go to jail if found guilty of corruption and their assets must be seized and returned to the public treasury.” The Philippines is ranked 139th out of 180 countries on Transparency International's corruption perception index, 28 places behind Indonesia and the lowest of the major Southeast Asian nations. Concerns about endemic corruption and weak institutions have seen foreign investment in the Philippines lag its neighbours.
