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Highlights Of The 96th LEDAC Meeting Anti-Corruption Through Good Governance The President presented the three components of her anti-corruption campaign, as follows: I. Enforcement
The President emphasized that the whole government pay special attention to Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as showcases in the fight against corruption. She noted that the World Bank (WB) praised the country’s efforts on lifestyle checks and assistance has been extended by the founders of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Her Excellency also stated that in order for the reforms to have an impact, some legislations are needed basically to make the Office of the Ombudsman stronger. If the Office of the Ombudsman operates like ICAC, there would be no need for a Presidential Anti Graft Commission (PAGC) which serves the President rather than act as an independent commission against corruption II. Systems
On systems, the President stressed the need to improve frontline services aside from BOC and BIR as they are not really frontline services but the ones that serve the general public like Land Transportation Office (LTO), National Statistics Office (NSO), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Passport Services. She seeks to revive the study done in the previous administration on what does an ordinary Filipino go through in his typical six (6) months such as what agencies does he go to and therefore what services does he expect to have improvement on. As surfaced in the consultations done with the people in early 2003, LTO has made significant improvements in its services but the President would like to continue the improvements there. On the automation of elections, the President said that it is more of a question of budget to implement it. The implementation of the Procurement Law in the national government has been praised by World Bank as one of the things the administration has been able to do to improve transparency and is expected to be implemented next in local government units. Bishop-Businessmen’s Recommendations The President emphasized that she expects the Cabinet to work closely with the Bishop-Businessmen’s Conference to craft enforceable anti-corruption programs along: First, the need for specially trained prosecutors and investigators to act on all cases of graft and corruption. The President stated that there is a need to increase the number of prosecutors not only in the judiciary but also in the Office of the Ombudsman. Two, involving all sectors at all levels to scrutinize projects that are willfully made transparent, so that the people, especially the poor, can actually see the benefits accruing to them from governance. On an operational level, this means having representatives of the BBC sit as members or observers in the bidding committees. The President cited her DSWD experience where she had representatives from NGOs sit in bidding committees and the resulting procurement process was adjudged as very transparent by the WB when they were doing our social expenditures management loan program. Three, the terms of bidding of government-funded projects, and all other contracts or agreements of government with the private sector, should be made clear and available for public scrutiny, without exception unless national security is involved. Fourth, in general, ensuring transparency, accountability, participation and communication as a vehicle for good governance.
The President thanked Congress for passing three very important judicial reforms like judges pay, prosecutors pay and mediators pay and stated her support for judicial reforms based on what the Supreme Court feels need to be done.
On administrative re-engineering, Her Excellency stated that the legal basis for administrative re-engineering would be stronger if we have re-engineering with a silver parachute similar to what NAPOCOR was able to give when it laid off its employees when the EPIRA Law was implemented.
The President reiterated that the Executive Branch supports the agreement made by both Houses of Congress to put off discussions on Charter Change until next year. III. Values
The President instructed the Department of Education (DepED) to allow Values Education in schools and on a voluntary basis, to expose children to various NGOs that are willing to conduct values education seminars not only schools but also in government institutions like BIR, Customs, and Bureau of Prisons. She also cited that Christian churches have been strongly recommending the creation of a Commission on Values. This will be an ad hoc body composed of the President as chairperson, Bishop Rosales, Bishop Tendero of the Protestant Church, Bro. Eddie, Bro. Mike, Ka Eduardo and, Pastor Quiboloy. These church leaders will be invited to sit weekly to work on what long term reforms need to be done to improve values in government. A Roadmap For The Campaign Against Corruption Sec. Rigoberto D. Tiglao’s presentation on the government’s anti-corruption program emphasized the fact that corruption is one of the biggest obstacles to economic development and poverty reduction (strong correlation between high economic level and low corruption). It is an oft-repeated argument against new tax measures as shown in the survey done by Pulse Asia that 77% believe new taxes are not necessary if inefficiency and corruption are addressed. The public perceives corruption as a major concern as evident in the poll done by Pulse Asia that 89% believe removing or prosecuting corrupt officials should be a priority in the President’s first 100 days. However, Sec. Tiglao maintains that the government does not need to reinvent the wheel in its fight against corruption but only has to learn from the Hong Kong experience. Thirty years ago, Hong Kong was considered one of the most corrupt countries in Asia. In fact the word “tong” has been derived from the HK Tong Gangs imported here by the Chinese immigrants. It is now perceived as the Second (2nd) LEAST corrupt country in Asia according to Transparency International. In contrast, the Philippines is perceived to be the fourth (4th) MOST corrupt country in Asia. In comparison, the Philippine has the most comprehensive and oldest anti-graft laws in Asia. RA 1379, the legal basis for lifestyle checks, was enacted in 1955. RA 3019, the anti-graft and corrupt practices act, was enacted in 1960. Replicating ICAC Experience: Transparency Group And PAGC The idea of an ICAC is not out of the blue, the President in 2002 ordered an exercise to test if the ICAC experience can work in the Philippines. This involved: (a) collating the Statement of Assets and Liabilities (SALs) of all line agencies staff as database for conducting lifestyle checks; (b) Transparency Group of the Department of Finance (TG-DOF) identified specific targets based on consultations with department and agency heads; (c) PAGC and OMB undertook investigation with participation of COA, PNP and ISAFP; (d) PAGC, on the other hand, conducted investigations based on complaints (anonymous or identified); and intense case build-up through documentation provided by various agencies and (e) field investigators (Provincial/ City/Municipal Assessor’s Office, Register of Deeds, LTO, BID, PNP-FED, OMB/NBI/Police, Courts/ Prosecutor’s Office, ISAFP, SEC, DepEd, BIR, PCIJ and other media groups). Results Sec. Tiglao stated that the deployment of enough number of investigators could yield quick results as evident in the following: Out of 20 lifestyle check cases investigated:
Estimated cost of investigation: P100,000/ case Time-frame: 3 months of investigation, 10 months of OMB proceedings, shortened from average of two years PAGC: 175 lifestyle checks: 3 officials failed, 46 cases ongoing, the rest forwarded to OMB and other agencies for lack of jurisdiction. Sec. Tiglao presented some proposals for parallel and converging efforts to be done by both the Legislative and Executive Branches of government: Government Reengineering The President asked Sec. Boncodin to recap the government re-engineering legislative proposal. Sec. Boncodin presented the government’s streamlining program as essentially having three (3) main objectives:
It is a voluntary separation program wherein employees are given the option to retire or to remain in the service. If they retire, they will be given the silver parachute (they will get their GSIS retirement benefits and additional incentives depending on their positions and length of service in government). For those that will opt to be redeployed, the CSC will implement the redeployment system. For those that opt to be retired, they will be given training on livelihood by identified government agencies. Congress has generously appropriated in the GAA Php15 million for the incentive package for employees who may want to retire. The World Bank (WB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the European Union (EU) have also given assistance in order to implement the program. Some of the assistance will be in the form of a grant and the WB in the form of program loan. Any savings generated from the program will be partly saved and/or returned to the government agencies to help them improve their facilities. Over the long run, this will be one source for the increase in the compensation in the government bureaucracy. There are two (2) tracks in the re-engineering program: one (1) track is via Executive Order and the other one via legislation because it involves agencies created by law. Discussions Sen. Santiago noted that the term Independent in the Hong Kong ICAC Law meant that the ICAC was independent from the Executive in order to avoid the use of the ICAC against political enemies. Senator Santiago also suggested that this anti-corruption program must be broad enough not to allow fruits of corruption to be concentrated in a few. Sen. Santiago suggested that a campaign should have two (2) thrusts: prevention and punitive action. Likewise, she suggested that a good campaign should focus on small increments rather dramatic large strides. Sen. Santiago also warned against making the ICAC too powerful. On a query from Rep. Locsin, Sec. Boncodin. informed the Council that the retention of obsolete positions is still a problem in the local government level and needs to be addressed . Sen. Gordon noted that the local governments in other countries allow people to submit the document/application for services required and this will be processed without the citizen being present. While the papers are being processed. Public officials used the delay in processing papers to engage in graft. Based on his experiences at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Sen. Gordon’s approach was to instill a spirit of efficiency in his agency. He rewarded employees who worked with dispatch. Sen. Gordon also suggested the need for a strong policy on rewarding and protecting whistleblowers in public service. Rep. Benigno C. Aquino Jr. also supported the development of a program for the speedy payment of financial incentives for whistleblowers. House Majority Floor Leader Nograles suggested that the government use retired investigators specially those who have received specialized foreign training in the conduct of investigations, as a short term measure to develop a pool of investigators. These investigators could be tapped for the case buildup campaign. Sen. Pimentel supported Rep. Nograles’ suggestion. Sen. Gordon also suggested that the government engage in a public relations (PR) program to show the seriousness of the government’s anticorruption program. The President replied that the internal PR program was mentioned in Sec. Tiglao’s presentation. Sen. Gordon replied that the PR campaign must also inform the public about their rights and responsibilities. Mr. Guillermo Luz suggested that the campaign to improve frontline services should also include information on the documents needed in the processing. This kind of information can help in the speedy and efficient processing of papers. Rep. Allan Cayetano suggested that the executive branch look at improving the benefits such as educational and medical benefits given to civil servants so as to reduce the temptation to commit graft. The President replied that cheaper medicine was taken up in the LEDAC meeting on Anti-Poverty while education will be taken up in a future meeting. House Deputy Speaker Raul Del Mar suggested the conduct of pre-audit of selected government transactions be considered in the campaign to reduce graft and corruption. Commissioner Dalman of the Commission on Audit (COA) informed the body that the COA previously had the power to conduct pre-audits. But this was rescinded after the COA uncovered a series of ghost projects in Cebu that resulted in the arrest and conviction of officials from the offending agency and the COA. Likewise Rep. Del Mar suggested that private contractors be also consulted in the preparation of government projects in order to determine the correctness of project cost estimates. Sec. Tiglao replied that this is being done in cooperation with the Bishop-Businessmen Conference (BBC). On the issue of private sector funds for the anti-corruption program, Mr. Luz also informed the Council that the core group for this activity would be composed of the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference (BBC) and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the Makati Business Club (MBC), the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) and CODE-NGO. The group would be assisting in the lifestyle checks and the case buildup campaign as well as the random check of the delivery of key public goods like textbooks, medicines and medical supplies among others. Vice President Noli D. De Castro suggested that the support of the mass media be solicited in the anti-corruption campaign. The Vice-President noted that the report did not cover the significant role that the private sector plays in anti-corruption. Senate President Franklin N. Drilon queried Secretary Tiglao and Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo on the need to amend the Charter of the Ombudsman. Senate President Drilon suggested that it may not be necessary to amend the charter of the Ombudsman. He suggested that the Executive branch consider increasing the budget of the Ombudsman. On a query from House Speaker De Venecia, the President stated that she considers the Government Reengineering Bill with a silver parachute for government employees as her top legislative priority. Her Excellency explained that Mr. Tony Kwok formerly of the Hong Kong ICAC, will be coming over to the Philippines to review our anti-corruption laws and programs. She suggested waiting for these recommendations. Chairperson Karina C. David of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) informed the Council that CSC is monitoring the compliance of government agencies and local government units (LGUs) in the posting of workflow charts. She stated that 60% of national government agencies while only a few LGUs have complied. Chairperson David also informed the Council about a public service delivery audit that the CSC will be implementing with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This program will test the compliance of government agencies in providing transparent delivery of frontline services. The President informed the Council that next week’s agenda would be Economic Growth Program including revenue measures. Her Excellency requested that individual tax experts of both Houses namely Representatives Lapus, Teves, Javier, Singson, Suarez and Senator Ponce-Enrile be invited. Download The Full Version Of This Document In Microsoft Word Format |
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