Can Public Funding Overcome Corruption? A View from the Philippines

Abstract

Poverty and electoral corruption are often intimately related. In the Philippines. where about a third of the citizens live at or below the level of poverty, graft has become such a vital source of party and campaign funding that it is generally recognized as a threat to the very possibility of pursuing democratic elections. In the words of a prominent student of corruption, it has become the major factor "inhibiting the growth of democracy". The fact that many lawmakers were the beneficiaries did not preclude attempts by legislators to address the problem. However, reforms failed to meet their target due to economic shocks, and, even more significantly, the success of entrenched elites in protecting their interests. As the elections of 2010 drew near, a far reaching two pronged reform scheme was put into effect, designed to weaken the incentives and reduce the opportunities to engage in electoral corruption.