Business and civil society groups are proposing four reform measures to help curb corruption in major infrastructure projects and the use of public funds that will, among other things, identify the ultimate beneficial owners of private contractors and real-time verification of payments to those companies.
The Management Association of the Philippines, Institute of Corporate Directors, Justice Reform Initiative, and the Institute for Solidarity in Asia said the transparency measures would improve oversight of government processes and urged implementation as soon as possible.
One proposal is a real time payment verification system that would like data from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cooperative Development Authority, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Modernized Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (mPhilGEPS) to flag suspicious government payments.
The expansion of the system to include the disclosure of the ultimate beneficial owners of private entities will help prevent the use of shell companies in government contracts.
Another proposal was to make all disbursements and contract variations publicly accessible and linked to mPhilGEPS to ensure full transparency throughout the life cycle of government projects.
The third proposal is to launch an audit within 90 days of the first red flag raised on a government project. This must involve the Commission on Audit, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
The fourth is the creation of a public dashboard that would allow citizens to track project delays, cost overruns, and repeat contract winners, while providing secure channels for whistle blowers.
The groups said that similar measures have helped deter corruption in countries such as the United Kingdom, Chile, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brazil, and Estonia.
With so many business and civic groups demanding and proposing reforms to help curb corruption in government, action should have already been taken by now. As long as government takes so long to enact the necessary reforms and improvements, or investigate and prosecute those involved in corrupt practices that have been institutionalized by the apathy of those who should’ve done something a long time ago, the Filipino people can only hope that concrete actions are coming after all the pronouncements and posturing by the officials who should be responsible.*
