Corruption puts PHL economy at risk

PHILIPPINE ECONOMIC growth could face risks due to rampant corruption particularly, controversial insertions in the budget, a former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official said.

“[This] means lower growth, lower employment or job opportunities, and therefore, less capacity to invest in human capital development like good public health, good public education, and social infrastructure projects,” Diwa C. Guinigundo, country analyst at GlobalSource Partners said in his interview with Money Talks with Cathy Yang on One News.

The P6.326-trillion General Appropriations Act in 2025 was dubbed as the “most corrupt” budget amid zero subsidy for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and congressional insertions and alleged deprioritized education sector.

“Corruption of such a magnitude actually weakens our capacity to grow,” Mr. Guinigundo said.

The Philippine economy grew by 5.5% in the second quarter this year, faster than the 5.4% expansion in the first quarter but slower than the 6.5% growth in the same quarter last year.

This also matched the lower end of the government’s 5.5% to 6.5% growth target this year.

Mr. Guinigundo also noted that the country’s potential growth has been coming down due to lower investment resources.

In January, former Executive Secretary Victor D. Rodriguez filed a petition before the Supreme Court to declare the 2025 budget as illegal for failing to include mandatory funding for PhilHealth, illegally increasing appropriations over the President’s recommendations, and giving the most budget to infrastructure over education.

The government is currently conducting its sweeping investigation into alleged anomalous flood control projects following the disclosure of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. of 15 contractors that cornered P100 billion of projects since 2022.

Over the weekend, Mr. Marcos also accepted the resignation of the Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan of the Department of Public Works and Highways, which faced massive scrutiny over his department’s misuse of funds. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante