To Open Government Partnership (OGP) CEO Sanjhay Pradhan;
Ford Foundation Vice President for International Programs Martin Abregu;
OGP Ambassador Helen Clark;
Congratulations, and thank you very much for your support, help, and guidance.
Fellow OGP leaders;
Good morning. Magandang umaga po.
Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
From the onset, our Philippine economic team has focused not just on economic growth but on economic transformation, hence our economic framework called the Philippine Development Plan specifically identifies (1) bolstered public accountability and integrity and (2) deepened participatory governance as part of our Strategic Framework to achieve our Agenda for Prosperity.
Towards public accountability and integrity, we have taken steps to intensify information transparency and access. With focused determination, we improved our ratings in the Open Budget Index: the Philippines is now No. 1 in Asia in budget transparency based on the 2023 Open Budget Survey. We likewise ranked sixth in the world for budget oversight, as our Commission on Audit institutionalized and mainstreamed the Citizens Participatory Audit technique—a commitment conceived under the previous National Action Plans and awarded by the Open Government Partnership.
Towards deepening participatory governance, within just a year into office, we institutionalized the Open Government Partnership through an Executive Order signed by our President last June 2023. This was a historic win that will ensure that open government values are embedded in government policies and programs across all branches of government including our Local Government Units (LGUs).
We have likewise just submitted our Public Financial Management Reforms Roadmap to the President, which identifies Public Procurement as well as Monitoring and Evaluation for Public Expenditures, among others, as Strategic Focus Areas which I believe will not just improve processes but drive profound transformation in how we manage public resources to ensure better service delivery and achieve national development.
To strengthen our PFM systems, we will implement the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), which will not only foster bureaucratic efficiency through the timely and efficient management of public funds across national government agencies and instrumentalities but will also eliminate corruption through use of digitalization.
Our New Government Procurement Act or NGPA (Republic Act No. 12009) was also signed into law last July—less than a year since I announced at the OGP Global Summit in Tallinn, Estonia that we would pursue procurement reform. We consider this as an important anti-corruption measure as public procurement is one of the governance aspects most prone to corruption, especially since 40 to 45 percent of our annual budget is logged to procurement.
This law guarantees transparency through open contracting, wherein stakeholders will have access to procurement information and observers from the private sector and civil society will be invited to participate in all levels of procurement proceedings.
The NGPA also requires bidders to disclose beneficial ownership information to identify the ultimate owner and prevent collusion in public procurement.
It likewise specifies measures to hold public officials accountable and imposes penalties for non-disclosure and false entries on beneficial ownership information.
These are just some of our landmark reforms that we have pursued reflecting our overriding commitment to having an accountable, inclusive, and open government. And we are determined to continue to pursue these reforms using a whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach to ultimately achieve inclusive and sustainable economic transformation in fulfillment of our Agenda for Prosperity.
Thank you.
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