September 11, 2019

 

MANILA – Citing the Philippine Development Plan’s “malasakit” pillar involving good governance, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) urges all government agencies to be relentless in the enforcement of anti-corruption initiatives with intensified citizen engagement.

Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie G. Edillon said corruption impedes investments, growth of businesses, and delivery of public services, including administration of justice. Thus, the credible enforcement of anti-corruption initiatives is an important part of the country’s development plan, under Chapter 5: Ensuring Clean, People-Centered and Efficient Governance.

In this regard, Edillon cited the accomplishments of the Office of the Ombudsman in the first two years of implementation of the PDP. The Office of the Ombudsman was able to get 100 percent of its appellate cases affirmed by the Supreme Court for criminal dispositions. It was also able to reduce 70 percent of its case dockets.

The Office of the Ombudsman’s anti-corruption initiatives include the Integrity Management Program, under which agencies craft their own Integrity Management Plans to ensure corrupt-free processes and systems. The Office also implements Integrity Caravans to engage the public and private sectors in building awareness and partnerships for their programs

These initiatives may have driven the recent improvement in the country’s performance in the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The Philippines climbed to the 99th spot out of 180 countries. This is an improvement of 12 spots from 111th out of 180 in 2017. The current ranking puts the country in the 45.0 percentile rank, which exceeds the 2018 target of 44.0 percentile, making the country the biggest gainer among its ASEAN neighbors.

“The governance challenges we face are great but not insurmountable with strong citizen engagements and inter-agency and inter-branch cooperation. All of us need to be steadfast in fighting corruption to increase people’s trust in government and help foster a high-trust society,” Edillon said.

The PDP 2017-2022 is currently going through its midterm review and is expected to be published by the first quarter of 2020.

 

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