More than anything else under the sun, Filipinos are usually most bothered by the soaring prices of basic goods and services. But now, for the first time in years, corruption has emerged as the second most worrisome issue, alongside access to affordable food like rice, meat, and vegetables.

The problem of corruption has long been treated as merely a moral issue, or something to condemn in speeches but often seemingly tolerated in practice. Not anymore. The latest OCTA Research survey released last week shows Filipinos now see corruption as an economic emergency.

Nearly one in three survey respondents ranked corruption among the country’s most pressing problems, the highest since 2021. The surge, from 13 percent last July to 31 percent in September, comes amid continued price increases and prevailing outrage over non-existent and substandard flood-control infrastructure projects.

As OCTA Research president Ranjit Rye observed, Filipinos “are not angry mindlessly. They’re expecting something by way of accountability and institutional reform.” It now seems people are connecting the dots. The effects of corruption have become a daily economic burden that makes life more expensive.

Before I took up law at UP, I earned a degree in economics at UST, where I learned that corruption doesn’t just enrich a few; it penalizes everyone else, especially the poor, through higher prices. Trust is economic capital — and corruption erodes trust. Investor confidence weakens, job creation slows down, credit ratings fall, and the cost of government borrowing rises.

When public officials collude with contractors to overprice expenditures, the excess spending widens the deficit, prompting more borrowing — which in turn fuels inflation. When farm-to-market roads exist only on paper, vegetable rot before reaching markets. When bribes are demanded from truckers, transport costs become more expensive, raising prices of food or of almost everything Filipinos buy.

When customs inspectors accept bribes to release shipments, or when favored importers get special treatment, the cost of these anomalies and inefficiencies ripple through the supply chain. Food, fuel, construction materials, etc. all become more expensive.

Corruption raises the cost of doing business, discouraging investment, and driving prices even higher. In short, corruption multiplies inflation. It steals not just money but economic stability. Consumers end up paying more. And every peso lost to corruption could have been used to stabilize food prices, subsidize transport costs, support farmers, strengthen the peso against inflationary shocks, or fund poverty alleviation.

The adverse consequences of corruption explain why the issue has leapfrogged past other survey concerns likes wages and jobs. More Filipinos now understand how graft undercuts any reform. Wages cannot be raised if inflation keeps eroding them. Widespread poverty cannot be fought efficiently while corruption drains public coffers.

Because of the massive corruption scandal unearthed during investigations in both Houses of Congress, Filipinos have come to the painful realization that they were being bled dry not just by inflation but by large-scale thievery apparently involving a vast, coordinated network of collusion, promoting an entire system of organized plunder.

Last September, Pulse Asia found that 97 percent of Filipinos believed corruption in government is “widespread,” 85 percent said it had worsened in the past year, and a disturbing 59 percent saw it as a “normal” part of Philippine politics. These numbers are staggering. They reflect not only outrage but exhaustion — a moral fatigue that comes from seeing scandal after scandal, including the pork barrel scam more than a decade ago.

But corruption is not new. It has long shaped the Filipino’s daily struggles — from securing a driver’s license to paying taxes at the BIR. It thrives in both grand theft and petty transactions. Even during the pandemic, when lives were on the line, corrupt officials found ways to profit from overpriced supplies.

Current data confirm how corruption has been defying solution all these years. The Philippines fell to 114th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Business Expectations Survey for the third quarter of 2025 showed business optimism sliding from 28.8 to 23.2, and future expectations falling from 51 to 48 — a clear sign that investors now see corruption as a structural, not seasonal, risk.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee cut its growth forecasts for 2025–2026, while the IMF, ADB, and AMRO downgraded their outlooks. Credit rating agencies have maintained cautious stances.

Business groups have also taken notice. The PCCI, FFCCCII, ECOP, MBC, and MAP have issued a rare joint statement denouncing the “historic, massive, and unprecedented corruption scandal crippling flood control projects.” They warned that the scandal “endangers national security.” Their message to Malacañang was blunt: prosecute the guilty, recover stolen funds, and institutionalize reform. And many others agree with that message. ([email protected])