The President should heed calls to focus on pressing issues such as the ever-rising cost of energy, our El Niño-ravaged agriculture, and how to attract foreign investments amid the prevailing geopolitical tensions and other such matters that impact the country instead of wasting his time, energy and the people’s money mounting costly needless mammoth rallies to trumpet a Bagong what?? that only makes people suspect he is the key party behind that terribly sloppy campaign fronted by a laughable Noel Oñate to change the Charter via a People’s Initiative.

Even National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, who rarely, if ever, comments on matters not pertinent to the economy, remarked that “political instability is bad for the local investment climate.”

In other words, the President should put politics on the back burner and concentrate on dispelling the global perception of how corrupt the country is if he is serious about attracting foreign investments.

No matter his pronouncements exhorting public servants to stop corrupt practices in government, the Philippines’ standing in the Berlin-based Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index is nothing to be proud of.

While the Philippines has moved up a notch — 34 out of 100, from 33 in 2022, or an improvement in its 2023 standing in the Corruption Perception Index but still below the global average of 43 — the country “remains on the lower end of the spectrum.”

The Philippines is 115th out of 180 countries in the CPI list, with countries ranked based on perceived levels of public sector corruption, with 0 as “highly corrupt” and 100 as “very clean.”

Transparency International’s country scores are culled from at least three data sources drawn from some 13 corruption surveys, with these sources gathered by several reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, as well as private consulting and risk management outfits and think tanks.

Indications of various manifestations of corruption include bribery, use of public office for self-gain without consequences, diversion of public funds, and failure of government to contain corruption and red tape.

Likewise measured in assessing corruption are nepotistic appointments to public office, laws on disclosure of finances and potential conflicts of interest, and legal protection for people reporting cases of bribery and corruption, among others.

Transparency International underscored that in many instances, justice is being “undermined” in both countries with authoritarian and democratic leaders. “This is increasing impunity for corruption and even encouraging it by eliminating consequences for criminals.”

It also pointed out that over two-thirds of countries in its list scored below 50 out of 100, a strong indication “that they have serious corruption problems.”

The global average is stuck at only 43, while the vast majority of countries have yet to make progress or decline in the last ten years, according to Transparency International.

Lest the President is unaware — and we hope he is not — the Philippines’ ranking in the assessment of the association founded in 1993 by former World Bank executives has barely moved in years.

The country’s score in 2023 — 34 — is similar to its score in 2012 — the year the Philippines was first included in the CPI list.

The Philippines was also included in the 2021 and 2022 lists of “significant decliners” in the Asia Pacific region.

People who know him well say the President is quite serious about turning around his family’s reputation, and this is what is driving him to strive to propel the economy forward and, overall, better the country’s wealth status.

If that were so, shouldn’t he then exert all that he could to use the extraordinary powers available to him to eradicate corruption in his government, quell the moves to change the Constitution by those who only want to do so for selfish gains, and devote himself to putting the welfare of the body politic first and quash forces within and without that are inimical to the nation’s interests?

We would imagine that that’s the least the President could do to manifest his sincerity in setting aright his family’s reputation and show all and sundry that he’s up to the mandate of leadership given to him by the people.