a) Honestly reassess the progress, priorities, and capacities of the main anticorruption agencies. All government agencies involved in anticorruption efforts, beginning with the Office of the Ombudsman, need to reexamine whether their track records match public expectations and the scale of the problem of corruption. Shortfalls and inadequacies in personnel and strategies must be urgently addressed if any further progress is to be made. The results of such reassessments should be made public in the interest of transparency;
b) Strictly enforce and observe anticorruption laws and policies. These include the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; the Anti-Red Tape Act; National Guidelines on Internal Control System (NGICS); the Procurement law (RA 9184); mandatory provisions of UNCAC; the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713); and the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).
The legal and policy framework for corruption prevention will be enhanced through compliance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and other international standards. Anticorruption advocacy campaigns will be conducted through the rollout of an integrated integrity and anticorruption promotion program. This will also include monitoring in the implementation of anticorruption programs, projects and activities;
c) Strengthen information-exchange among all government agencies to prevent corruption and private-public sector collusion. Data possessed by revenue agencies, line agencies involved in contracting (e.g., DPWH, DOTC), local governments (residences and business permits), and the AMLAC, can be potentially assembled and mined to build anticorruption cases based on lifestyle-checks and possibly fraudulent tax returns. The availability of such information serves as a powerful deterrent against corruption involving collusion between private persons and public officials;
d) Support private sector initiatives to police its own ranks and discourage corrupt relations with government agencies in revenue collection and procurement. The Compliance and Integrity Programs for Business (CIPB) are an initiative of the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines to ensure the pledge of their members not to bribe public officials, to report corruption, and to embed standard corporate practice. The private sector has also committed to intensify its efforts to improve corporate governance through training of directors and requiring compliance with higher standards of corporate governance;
e) Implement fundamental reforms in public procurement and in budget releases to close off opportunities for corruption and to promote transparency, competition, and cost-effectiveness through the following measures:
• Roll out an enhanced Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) in order to minimize discretion and intervention in procurement. The new PhilGEPS features shall include: (a) a virtual store; (b) an expanded supplier registry; (c) an electronic payment facility; (d) a facility for electronic bid submissions to the virtual store; and (e) annual procurement plans;
• Expand the use of the PhilGEPS E-Bidding system to improve the efficiency and transparency of government agencies' procurement activities, government contracts, and other procurement related electronic transactions, thereby reducing spending on print media advertisements;
• Review the guidelines for blacklisting unscrupulous contractors and suppliers. The Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) shall streamline procedures and strengthen policies to facilitate the collection and presentation of evidence of bid-rigging, overpricing, and underprovision against corrupt contractors and suppliers for blacklisting;
• Create an independent body to review appeals filed by bidders. An independent body, composed of procurement and legal experts shall be formed by the GPPB to review and resolve protests and appeals filed by participating bidders;
• Prevent the diversion of unspent funds from vacated positions by releasing PS allotments only for filled positions, with special attention to large service-organizations such as the military and the police;
• Prevent the conversion of MOOE and CO outlays by standardizing and disclosing MOOE and CO requirements including those of military camps and other facilities;
• Conduct technical visits to validate the budgetary status of programs, projects and activities;
f) Invite the participation and scrutiny of CSOs and individual citizens with respect to government performance through institutional means and through the provision of information. This will cover the following measures:
• Expand the pool of CSOs that serve as observers in the bids and awards committees (BACs) of various agencies to ensure civil society representation;
• Invite the regular participation of citizen groups in the budget-preparation process for the evaluation of existing government programs and for them to provide inputs to ZBB; and
• Make available to the public the accountability reports of all agencies, including the DND and the AFP, on the DBM website.
g) Empower citizens to directly and confidentially report either exemplary performance or corrupt practices of employees through dedicated portals, such as the DOF's Pera ng Bayan website (http://perangbayan.com), which also entertains information regarding tax evaders and smugglers.