Report on APEC Procurement Transparency Standards in the Philippines

The Procurement Watch, Inc. in cooperation with Transparency International- USA through a project funded by the GE Foundation recently released a report on the impact of the APEC Government Procurement Standards on procurement transparency and integrity in the Philippines. To determine whether the APEC standards adopted by the country as a part of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption are implemented and help reduce corruption, a private sector consultation was hosted by The Makati Business Club and Coalition Against Corruption. The review revealed that it is critical to intensify the ethical standards and practices of individual private sector companies as well as incorporating collective action to demand greater government accountability.

Click here to download and read more on the report, APEC Procurement Transparency Standards in the Philippines: A Work in Progress. (PDF)

Ecolink Philippines receives 2nd grant from PTF this year

The Partnership For Transparency Fund (PTF) has approved a grant of US $39,500 to Ecolink Philippines for the implementation of Bantay Red Plate. The program, in collaboration with the Department of Interior and Local Government and Coalition Against Corruption, aims to promote the accountability of Local Government Units (LGUs) in vehicle procurement, use, and maintenance through policy development, citizen monitoring, capability-building, and information advocacy.

PTF signs grant agreements with ASOG G-Watch

The Partnership For Transparency Fund (PTF) recently approved a grant of US $35,045 to long-time partner, Ateneo School of Government (ASOG G-Watch) for the implementation of the “Combating Corruption Through School- Based Monitoring of Education Services in the Philippines: Establishing G-Watch Local Hubs” project. This will eliminate opportunities for corruption at the school level by establishing a decentralized mechanism that supports the G-Watch institutionalized mechanisms adopted by DepEd for citizen participation in education service delivery.

CAC Lauds DBM’s eTails System

The Department of Budget and Management now has a programme called electronic Transparency and Accountability Initiative for Lump Sum Funds (eTAILS), a management information system that digitizes the processing of lump sum funds and supports the timely disclosure of lump sum fund release information on the DBM website. The Coalition Against Corruption lauds this measure to help citizens understand the National Budget easier and to get more involved in the budget process. Click on the link http://www.dbm.gov.ph/pdaf.php to view fund releases and other information.

PTF Approves Two Grants for Northern Luzon

The Northern Luzon Coalition for Good Governance (NLCGG) will receive $39,500 in grant from the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) to implement Participatory Local Governance in Northern Luzon (PLG-NL) Project which seeks to strengthen citizen participation in the public finance management cycle at the barangay level in Northern Luzon. It involves in-depth interventions in selected communities which entail research on the conditions of governance, capacity building of citizens, monitoring of government projects, policy advocacy, and partnership building with Barangay Councils and different government agencies/units.  Another grant of $35,500 is awarded to The Conditional Cash Transfer Program Watch Project (The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Watch Project) of the Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Government, Inc. (CCAGG). This project would engage the government’s Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in ensuring that government money is not wasted in implementing the Conditional Cash Transfer Program by the inclusion of the poorest of the poor, the intended beneficiaries, in the program. 

PhilDHRRA Project Update

26 April 2011 - The Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA) conducted training for field monitors in Cebu and Bohol last March 25 and April 14 for the PTF-CAC supported project, Harnessing Multi-Stakeholder Efforts to Promote Transparency and Accountability in the Department of Agriculture-Region 7 (Bantay Agri Project).  The trained field monitors were deployed on the first week of April and are expected to complete the monitoring by the end of May. The group also finalized partnership agreements for the monitoring of agri- support services in Cebu, Bohol and Negros Oriental. Participating NGOs are Pagtambayayong Foundation, Inc.  (PFI), Lihok Pilipina Foundation (LPFI), Bohol Integrated Development Foundation (BIDEF), PROCESS Bohol Inc. and Negros Oriental Network of NGOs (NegOrNet).

CAC signs MOU with DOF and other CSO’s for anti-corruption initiative

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Coalition Against Corruption, the Department of Finance, as well as other partner stakeholders for the partnership in support of good governance last March 3, 2011 at Land Bank of the Philippines- Ayala Avenue Branch, Makati City. This is to encourage citizen’s participation in reporting anomalies and other forms of graft and corruption through the Pera ng Bayan website. The Pera ng Bayan is an improved monitoring and feedback system by the government. Among the signatories of the said MOU are Department of Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima, Bureau of Customs Commissioner Angelito A. Alvarez, Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto- Henares, Makati Business Club Chairman Ramon Del Rosario, Jr., Coalition Against Corruption Chairperson David Balangue, Management Association of the Philippines Vice- President Elizabeth H. Lee, People Power Volunteers For Reform Chairwoman Karina Constantino- David, Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Leadership Convenor Harvey Keh and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Francis Chua.

PTF approves grant to ensure accountability in education sector  

25 June 2010 – The Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) will receive $30,475 in grant from the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) to implement the Citizen Action for Accountability in Education Procurement Project to build civil society's capacity in tracking bids of the Department of Education.

PTF director Geert van der Linden, ASoG's Dean Antonio La Viña and associate Rechie Tugawin, and Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) Coordinator Edward Gacusana (from left to right) approved the agreement to sustain citizens' participation in local procurement.


PTF taps EBJFI to set up sustainable procurement monitoring  

29 October 2009 – The Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) has approved a US$21,508 grant to Evelio B. Javier Foundation Inc. (EBJFI) to institute long-term procurement monitoring of local government units in the provinces of Davao and Cebu.

PTF director Geert van der Linden, EBJFI's trustee Rose Marie Yenko and executive director Nona Javier have agreed to develop schemes to sustain civil society participation and to analyze the impact of tracking LGU procurement on eradicating corruption.

This project is supported by the Coalition Against Corruption and Makati Business Club, PTF's country program partners.

In Memoriam
Corazon C. Aquino, 1933-2009

5 August 2009 - Former president Corazon C. Aquino served the Filipinos with courage, compassion, and humility. She lived and died as a guiding light to all anticorruption advocates. In 2004, Mrs. Aquino reminded the Coalition Against Corruption to keep the beacon lit, to pass the torch across sectors and through generations to show that there are people who still care about this country who will stand up and do something about corruption.

Here's an excerpt of her speech entitled "Corruption is our Cancer" during the Combating Corruption Conference on 21 September 2004:

This Coalition Against Corruption is a movement whose time has finally come. It is a movement which I wish we had all started with great fervor many, many years ago.

Corruption has become our cancer. Left untreated for so long, it has grown like a tumor spreading through the body of our society and tearing at and eating away the muscle and tissue of a nation. Left unattended, it has spread to the far reaches of our country, directly and indirectly affecting many sectors of society, regardless of age and religion, social status or gender. And whether one is directly participating in it and involved in its machinations or one is merely victimized by its effects, it has become a blight on us all.

The treatment of cancer requires radical procedures and drastic changes in lifestyle. It starts with early detection. Just as small tumors grow to larger ones, little and early indiscretions have a nasty habit of becoming bigger scandals in the future. Unless identified and excised at an early stage, corruption too will grow until it has become so embedded in a system that its removal becomes a threat to the very system it feeds on. Beyond its initial removal, its treatment requires medication and attention to prevent its return and spread. It requires constant monitoring and screening to check for its return. For many patients, this becomes a way of life, a routine difficult to accept at first but acceptable nonetheless in the face of alternatives. It requires patience and commitment and, above all, discipline, to live these changes on a daily basis.

This is the way we must treat the cancer that is corruption. We must engage in early detection. No infraction should be considered too small or too early to be insignificant. The petty briber today may be tomorrow’s influence-peddler. The cutthroat entrepreneur who cuts corners and bends rules today may be tomorrow’s tax evader. Today’s minor infraction at the street comer or curbside may be tomorrow’s case of grand larceny.

After detection, we must move quickly to isolate and remove the source of cancer. Infractions should be penalized appropriately and immediately, regardless of one’s status in life. Beyond criminal charges, there should be administrative means to deal with this disease in the public and private sector to arrest its growth, isolate it, and stamp it out. But beyond all of that, we should exercise our common-sense and our old-world sense of community and national values to ostracize instead of lionize those who have made a success of themselves through corrupt practices.

We need to regain and re-learn the good, old-fashioned ethics of hard work, honesty, and integrity to succeed in life rather than practice the ethics of lagay to get ahead. We need to recapture the sense of pride in an honest day’s work and defeat the notion that success can come only to the corrupt.

We need to believe once again - and practice - not the corrupted values of tax evasion, price-padding, and under delivery of public goods, but the Filipino values of honesty, industry, and community. These were the values I am sure we were all taught as children by our parents, teachers, Church, and elders.

Even after’ early detection and removal, constant screening and monitoring is necessary because corruption, like cancer, may come back and attack a different organ. This requires discipline and persistence, something we Filipinos are not always good at. While we are said to be at our best in moments of crisis, our passion, fervor, and commitment are not always maintained at peak levels- when situations become less critical. Yet it is at those moments when our vigilance drops that corruption returns to attack us all once again. We cannot live constantly in a state of crisis just as we should not awaken only from crisis to crisis. Instead, we need to maintain constant vigilance with periodic and systematic checks to see how our vital signs are performing. To do this, we will need to shift our paradigm of time and sense of urgency from crisis management to proactive preventive care.

We will need to redefine our notion of People Power.

I have believed in People Power for a long time, not simply in its political dimension as we have seen it exercised but in its social and economic dimensions as I continue to see it carried out on a daily basis by people and organizations. It is a power harnessed by people pulling in one direction, with a common vision and common goal. It is a power built by the accumulation of many small efforts which add up to a sum far greater than the total of its parts. And it is a power which takes a life of its own and becomes larger than you and me. It is a legacy. It is a beacon which I hope future generations will look to for guidance and direction.

But like all beacons, it needs to be re-energized from time to time so people get the sense of revisiting and reliving its original meaning. Like the Olympic torch which is passed from person to person across boundaries of race and religion, we too must pass our torch and touch others so that we all eventually share a common value of what we want this country to be. Our torch is People Power and our battle is corruption.

For the last several years, I have personally witnessed how People Power has transformed people’s lives and united communities through the quest for the common good. Through the People Power People Movement which I launched last year on the 20th death anniversary of Ninoy, I have seen how people banding together can channel their energies and bring about change against all odds. Discipline, cooperation, and belief in themselves and their vision were their common hallmarks.

Today, I salute all of you for coming together and joining forces to exercise People Power against one of the greatest social ills of our time - corruption. Your move is timely for many of our people have become more cynical about governance and about nationhood. Let us just bear in mind that every movement for fundamental change can only prosper if it begins with the self. Over a century ago, our esteemed heroes emphasized the need for kalinisan ng loob (purity of self) in every patriot for the emergent Filipino nation to earn their redemption as a free people. Today, let us demand of ourselves no lower standard.

The roots of corruption run deep, for the scourge is embedded in our culture. Unfortunately, before we Filipinos were introduced to democracy, a warped colonial upbringing ingrained in us the concept of government as a means to enrich oneself and to dispense patronage. We have to change the paradigm. Before looking elsewhere, let us make sure that we pay the
correct taxes and that we are above board in all our dealings and actions.

That would give us the moral right to demand from government transparency, accountability and the political will to prosecute tax evaders, smugglers and those who disgrace public service. Falling short of these, we risk further loss of faith in public institutions, deeper erosion of values, and the exacerbation of the cynicism, despair and mutual distrust that shackle our nation. That would mean resigning ourselves, tragically, to corruption as a way of life.

Such is the magnitude of your mission, and I urge you to steel yourselves for the long battle ahead. Your challenge will be to keep the beacon lit, to pass the torch across sectors and through generations to show that there are people who still care about this country to stand up and do something about it. Your challenge will be to enlarge your group beyond your already formidable alliance because this battle will be won only by the positive energy of a critical mass pitted against the numbers who either benefit from corruption or are merely resigned to it. As in all genuine People Power phenomena, I believe the combination of the just cause and public support will win when powered by discipline, passion, commitment, cooperation, and trust and faith in each other.

In carrying out your mission, you will be hit by many detractors, some of them may even be your friends. They may say that your projects aren’t big enough or bold enough. They may say you are too naive. They may say nothing can be done. Listen politely but do not let them discourage you. The power of People Power is the accumulation of small, seemingly insignificant victories; fought on many fronts, until it forms a pattern, eventually a habit, and ultimately a value for all to share and cherish. The battle against corruption will not be won overnight or by a single case. It will be won through constant vigilance and the courage to do what is right.

Fight the right battles, analyze the defeats, and celebrate all your victories so people will know that they are not alone in the war against corruption. I am proud to stand with you in your courageous battle, and I call on all concerned Filipinos to give of their time, their talent, and their resources and be part of this, our coalition and our crusade against corruption! I have no doubt that, as a united People, we will prevail! Thank you.

MCC fund on hold due to corruption

11 December 2008 – The Philippines failed to qualify for the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact status to be eligible for a large-scale grant under the US government’s foreign assistance program after the MCC Board of Directors announced the new eligible countries selected to participate in the five-year MCC compact program.

“Given sufficient resources allocated by (the US) Congress, MCC looks forward to long-term partnerships with these countries as they create their own plans to empower their poorest citizens,” said MCC Chief Executive Officer Ambassador John Danilovich.

“The Board agreed that the Philippines remains eligible for developing a compact proposal, but emphasized that MCC will not sign a compact until the country passes the indicator criteria on corruption. The Board also reiterated the importance of this principle with respect to all its partner countries. The Board called upon the government of the Philippines to intensify its efforts to fight corruption and will closely monitor the country’s performance,” said Ambassador Danilovich.

The MCC board said the Philippines, along with Jordan, Malawi, Moldova, and Senegal, were previously selected as Threshold Program countries (and have current or completed Threshold Programs) and will all be able to continue the process of developing compacts in fiscal year 2009.

The MCC Threshold Program provides smaller grants to help reform-minded governments improve their performance on the policy indicators necessary for participation in the compact program.

FY09 Compact-Eligible Countries fact sheet

Youth camp for social change 

15 November 2008 – More than 1,200 youth representatives coming from Catholic schools, parish youth ministries, Sangguniang Kabataan (SK), public high schools and non-sectarian schools in Metro Manila were convened for a leadership youth camp dubbed "Bidahan: Be the Change" last 14 and 15 November 2008 at the La Salle Greenhills.

Organized by the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) and the Manila Archdiocesan Parochial Schools Associations (MAPSA) with support from the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability, Coalition Against Corruption and the Makati Business Club, the two-day activity was conducted to call for social change and prepare the youth for the 2010 elections. It also aims to raise the awareness of the youth on current governance issues and persuade them to take action through linkages with participants from other schools and sectors. 

DND renews commitment with CAC to sustain transparency in defense contracts

28 August 2008 – The Department of National Defense (DND) reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring continued transparency in procurement transactions within the defense establishment as it re-engaged the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC), represented by officers of the Makati Business Club (MBC) and the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference for Human Development (BBC) as official observers to the procurement process in the DND.

Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr., BBC National Co-Chairman Vicente Paterno, and MBC Chairman Ramon del Rosario, Jr. signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on 28 August 2008.

Secretary Teodoro vowed his ‘total commitment’ to the implementation of the MOA saying that ‘people’s money and people’s lives’ are best protected by a fair, honest, and transparent process in acquiring equipment for the AFP and other agencies of the DND.

Pursuant to the MOA, the DND officially designates the CAC, through the BBC and MBC, as observers that will monitor the processes of the five-man DND Bids and Awards Committee.

Mr. Paterno warmly welcomed the renewal and updating of the first MOA, saying this will effect continuing improvement in the various aspects of the bids and awards systems within the DND. He also expressed enthusiasm over the possibility their cooperation would “catalyze a national movement for greater transparency”.

“I’m excited at the prospect that with proper documentation, these improvements will be contained as basis of other national agencies and implemented therein after adequate training by DND and CAC,” Paterno said.

The DND and CAC-BBC-MBC first entered into a similar MOA in February 2005.

Millennium Challenge Corporation conducts consultation with CSOs

15 August 2008 – The Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN), together with the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO), International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance (INCITEGov), Lawyers' League for Liberty (Libertas), Makati Business Club (MBC), Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA) and Transparency International-Philippines (TI-Philippines), organized a Consultation Workshop among various civil society organizations (CSOs) on 8 August 2008 to discuss the Philippines' eligibility to receive grant money from the United States’ Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

The workshop aimed to craft a collective position and a set of recommendations for the Philippine government's proposal to the MCC and to establish a CSO monitoring group for the implementation of the MCC grant. The event was attended by various CSOs working on the MCC themes – Ruling Justly, Investing in People, and Economic Freedom. 

Mr. Troy Wray, MCC Associate Country Director for the Philippines, and Dr. Dante Canlas, the "Point of Contact" or focal person for the MCC process for the Philippine government, addressed the consultation and explained the MCC criteria and compact process. Mr. Wray said “there will be an interface between the MCC and the government” and that an accountability entity will be established. He said CSOs on the ground who stand to benefit from the MCC grant will provide oversight or control in the implementation of the projects. Dr. Canlas also said “CSOs can be involved in the fine tuning of indicators.” He said there should be “transparency in all indicators and in all projects that will be implemented.”

The participants at the consultation identified major issues in the Philippines related to the indicator categories of MCC, including: (1) weak governance and lack of transparency; and (2) inequitable distribution of wealth.  In response to these constraints, the following recommendations were put forward as critical components of the MCC Compact Program: (1) improve transparency and public disclosure policy (e.g. pass the Freedom to Information bill), (2) improve delivery of basic services (health, education, women), (3) ensure meaningful participation of CSOs in MCC processes, programs and projects; (4) develop a 'balanced' indicator system for the MCC; and (5) institutionalize CSO consultation.

The MCC Compact Team also visited the Philippines on 11-15 August and met with representatives of government agencies. They also organized several thematic workshops with representatives of civil society groups:

• Fiscal Constraints: TAN, INCITEGov
• Infrastructure Constraints: MBC, TAN
• Constraints in Agricultural Productivity and Food Security: CODE NGO, PAKISAMA
• Constraints to Poverty Eradication:  CODE NGO, TI Philippines
• Towards Good Governance and Judicial Reforms: TAN, TI Philippines

TAN, with partner CSOs, are currently organizing focus group discussions to thresh out mechanisms in institutionalizing civil society participation and to refine the recommendations.

The Asia Foundation is supporting the CSO consultations to start up continuous dialogues and coordination among CSOs and the government for the MCC Compact program.

PTF inks grant agreement with INCITEGov to monitor LGU projects

24 June 2008 - The Partnership for Transparency Fund has signed a grant agreement amounting to $25,069 with the International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence Governance (INCITEGov) for the latter’s project entitled “Participatory Monitoring for Barangay Infrastructure and Health Projects in the Province of Isabela.”

In cooperation with the provincial government of Isabela, the project will be implemented by INCITEGov within a 6-month period starting 30 June 2008. The project aims to improve the transparency in the utilization of provincial funds allotted to municipalities and barangays for infrastructure and health projects, particularly the procurement of medicines, through (1) the setting up of systems and processes, (2) organization of monitoring teams, (3) basic training on participatory monitoring, (4) actual monitoring, (5) sharing of monitoring teams’ experiences, and (6) the presentation of results.

The grant was approved by the PTF and is an initiative of incumbent Isabela Governor Grace Padaca. Now on her second term, Gov. Padaca wants to focus on strengthening citizens’ participation in governance, specifically to implement and institutionalize participatory auditing of infrastructure and health funds provided by the provincial government to barangays.
 
INCITEGov is a non-stock, non-profit organization committed to bringing about systemic change in Philippine governance through research on and analysis of political and economic systems, program design, implementation and monitoring, and strategic capacity and capability mentoring. INCITEGov draws on the expertise and experience of its members who have held leadership positions in both public and private spheres of reform.

Namfrel Signs Grant Agreement with PTF

12 June 2008 – National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) volunteers will now count and monitor deliveries of medicines instead of ballots in between elections. Namfrel secretary general Eric Alvia and Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) board member Geert van der Linden have signed a one-year grant agreement for the Medicine Monitoring Project that will cover eight hospitals and two Centers for Health Development.

Namfrel has been helping the Department of Health (DOH) monitor the procurement of medicines in 66 public hospitals since 2005. With the PTF’s support, Namfrel volunteers will participate as observers to witness hospitals’ inventory taking and will conduct spot checks of hospitals’ stock cards and storage of medicines. They will also be trained on the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184) and will sit as observers during public biddings and submit diagnostic reports to the chief of hospital or CHD director.

The Medicine Monitoring Project will aim to engage and encourage communities to monitor the delivery of health services, institutionalize the monitoring in communities, and expand the monitoring to include LGU-managed hospitals.

Mactan Chamber Launches “Catch a Big Pugapo”

5 May 2008 – The Cebu Business Club and the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) recently launched their own “Catch a Big Pugapo” campaign as a tie-up with the Coalition Against Corruption’s “Catch a Big Fish” project. “Pugapo” is the Visayan name for a local fish named after national hero Lapu-Lapu, which also happens to be the name of the Cebu city with the most “anomalous” local government. 

MICCI is a graft watch unit that has initiated a number of graft cases now pending before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas mainly against Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza. The local official is facing charges for his involvement in the purchase of grossly overpriced lampposts for Cebu’s hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in 2007.

MICCI is also following up some high-profile cases, together with Church-based and civil society groups that are also part of the Coalition Against Corruption. The Ombudsman recently filed graft charges against nine Department of Public Works and Highways officials and two city mayors involved in the Asean lamppost scam. The case arose from the alleged overpricing of lampposts from P83,000 to P224,000 each. The total project cost was P365 million.

Auditors team up with bishops and businessmen to monitor gov't procurement

5 May 2008 – The Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Bishops-Businessmen's Conference for Human Development (BBC), a member of the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC), to intensify monitoring of government procurements.

“PICPA supports good governance. We will tap our 90 chapters nationwide to look at the public bidding activities of agencies,” said PICPA national president Andres Cabuyadao during the bids and awards committee (BAC) observers’ regular meeting in Makati City.

CAC-BBC’s procurement monitoring project co-chairmen Magdaleno Albarracin and Paterno Menzon signed the pact to expand the observers’ team deployed in 25 BACs of 21 government agencies. The PICPA auditors will assist CAC-BBC and the Catholic Bishops Conference’s Sangguniang LAIKO in their financial review of government tenders.

Bishop Gabriel Reyes, chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Lay Apostolate, witnessed the signing and urged volunteers to remain steadfast in the campaign for transparency in government. “You are always in the midst of temptation, but that is the context wherein you can fulfill your Christian vocation,” he said.

CAC Launches Big Fish Project

15 April 2008 – "While the campaign against corruption at the community level helps build a strong base, it is a long and slow process. Unless an example is made of a high official that is indicted, convicted, and finally jailed, it is difficult to make the general public believe that there is hope in overcoming corruption in this country," said Jose Cuisia Jr., chairman of the Coalition Against Corruption, during the launch of a new campaign at the AIM Conference Center in Makati City.

As a serious effort to make people believe there is still hope in turning things around, Cuisia said Makati Business Club will lead in the new project called “Catching the Big Fish.” Initially, the coalition is supporting a case filed by Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel against former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr.

Aside from a renewed focus on prosecution, Cuisia said CAC would like to ensure the continuity of its programs. "To raise awareness of the problem as well as raise resources to fund the programs of the Coalition, we intend to build a Governance Investment Fund for Transparency (or GIFT) that will help sustain our anti-corruption initiatives," said Cuisia.

CAC Monitors Defense Procurement

15 June 2007 – A total of P6.4 billion worth of Department of National Defense (DND) projects for 2007 are being monitored by the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) with the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference (BBC).

The DND is fast-tracking major procurement projects under the AFP capability upgrade plan to modernize the armed forces. Investing heavily to upgrade troop capabilities, the military’s shopping list includes global positioning systems, night fighting systems, automatic weapons, and radios.

With billions of pesos worth of purchases programmed this year, CAC and BBC are closely monitoring the procurement process to check whether the DND follows the Government Procurement Reform Law (RA 9184) through the Government Procurement Monitoring Project.

In a letter to the department on 3 May 2007, the CAC made several recommendations based on volunteers’ observations on how the DND conducts its biddings. CAC-BBC pointed out that DND frequently chooses negotiated procurement or direct contracting instead of competitive bidding, which promotes transparency and encourages more suppliers to bid. Observers also noticed that few bidders participate in DND procurement considering items for bid vary from equipment, vessels, helicopters, to oil supply, and gunpowder.

Business executives Dr. Magdaleno Albarracin and Atty. Paterno Menzon, who were appointed as co-chairmen of the project on 10 April 2007, guide the current roster of 36 volunteers who are assigned to 23 Bids and Awards Committees in 19 government agencies.

Other agencies being monitored by CAC-BBC include the Philippine Ports Authority, Manila International Airport, Philippine National Police, Department of Public Works and Highways, and Department of Tourism.