96 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy, Second Edition perceived corruption in our government. It continues to be a serious challenge which has in fact become the clarion call (Matuwid na Daan) of the Aquino III administration. Former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo estimated that the government loses 20 billion pesos annually to graft and corruption. It is not surprising at all to see that research organizations rank our country below the regional East Asian average in World Governance Indicators, particularly in regard to control of corruption and political stability (See Kaupman, D., A. Kraay and M. Mastruzzi. The World Governance Indicators: Methodology and Issues, 2010. (Available at http://govindicators.org). This measure has been cited by credible research undertaken by the UNDP and the Human Development Network. This nding supports the observation of this study that the executive hegemony of our presidential system weakens horizontal accountability and encourages a dominant delegative authority and leads to the poor performance of this system in the Philippines. This measure further strengthens the empirical basis of poor governance in the country. The importance of good governance to social and economic development cannot be overemphasized. It is an imperative for the vision of a substantive democracy. Reforms aimed at strengthening horizontal accountability through transparency are imperative to minimize the employment of delegative authority for better governance. The United Nations is not only pushing for good governance. It has also pushed, in the last six decades of its existence, the agenda of economic and social development. Due to its limited nancial resources, the efforts of the world body in this aspect of its functions have been deemed a mixture of successes and failures (Henderson 1998: 405-08). But the United Nations is unrelenting. In 2000, it launched the “Millennium Declaration” which aims to “wipe out poverty and the worst forms of human deprivation by the year 2015”. Our country has acceded to these goals and has now incorporated them in our 2004-2010 Medium Term Development Plan. Hence, the performance of our country's economic and social programs can be tracked through the Millennium Development Goals. Box 1. Millennium Development Goals Goal 1: Goal 2: Goal 3: Goal 4: Goal 5: Goal 6: Goal 7: Goal 8: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary educa on Promote gender equality and empower women Reduce child mortality Improve maternal health Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Ensure environmental sustainability Develop a global partnership for development As is widely known, the Philippines' economic performance is lagging behind many countries in Southeast Asia. The 2010 Philippines Progress Report