23 July 2009 – Michael Johnston, Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, gave a talk entitled “Beyond Perceptions: Measuring Vulnerabilities to Corruption” at a public seminar held at the AIM Conference Center, Makati City. The seminar was jointly organized by The Asia Foundation and the Hills Program on Governance of the Asian Institute of Management. Read more

22 July 2009 - The Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) signed today the revised implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) at Shangri-La Makati Hotel to make public biddings simpler, faster, and more transparent.

Due to clamors to integrate procurement rules for domestic and foreign funded projects, the GPPB came up with a consolidated version of the IRR after extensive consultations with the private sector, civil society organizations, and bilateral and multilateral development partners. Read more

6 July 2009 - The government is giving bidders only five working days to initiate a challenge to the unsolicited proposal of San Miguel Corp. — the food-beverage giant controlled by Marcos crony Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. — to build the P52-billion Laiban dam in Rizal province, potentially one of the biggest infrastructure projects to be launched by the Arroyo administration. Read more

18 May 2009 - Compared to many other government deals, the fire extinguishers transaction, totalling P4.9 million, is considered small. But what makes it noteworthy is Rosario “Bea” Obsequio Riel’s success in convincing her superiors in the Internal Audit Department (IAD) of the House of Representatives, including Speaker Prospero Nograles, to terminate a deal overpriced by more than 150 percent—or about P3 million—by a supplier who apparently bagged the contract because of the latter’s ties with the BAC chair. Read more

Tracking reallocated funds

12 January 2009 - Did the government spend just the P1.227 trillion approved as its budget last year under Republic Act No. 9498, or did it spend P20 billion more? In the past years, debt payment on interest had been automatically appropriated — as a matter of law — in every annual budgeting session of the National Government.

In budget year 2008, however, the bicameral conference committee reclassified, for reasons of its own, debt interest payment from an automatically appropriated item into a special purpose fund (SPF). Read more

8 December 2008 - On October 13, a group headed by former Speaker Jose De Venecia's son, Joey De Venecia, together with Iloilo Vice Governor Rolex Suplico, Black and White Convenor Leah Navarro, Atty. Harry Roque, and Editha Burgos (mother of missing activist student Jonas Burgos), among others, filed the fourth impeachment complaint against President Gloria Arroyo.

Read more | View/download the vote record on the impeachment (PDF).

24 November 2008 - The goal of most nations is to have a balanced budget, such that their growth is financed by internal sources (taxes and non-tax government revenues), rather than borrowings.

However, despite President Gloria M. Arroyo’s call for austerity measures in government, per Administrative Order No.103 (August 31, 2004), expenditures of government even speeded up to reach P1.155 trillion more, or 62% more than when Mrs. Arroyo started in 2001 at P710 Billion.

Read more

24 November 2008 - Cleaning up the police, health, education and environment sectors should be a top political priority in the Asia-Pacific region, in order to loosen the stranglehold of corruption on the lives of the poor, according to a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report.

The Report, entitled Tackling Corruption, Transforming Lives, vividly illustrates how the
region’s pervasive ‘petty’ corruption smothers opportunities for the most vulnerable
people, limiting their access to education and compromising basic health services. It also
provides innovative ways in which communities and governments are striving to fight corruption, in Asia including Indonesia. Read more | Full report

Businessmen report increase in bribe incidents

21 November 2008 – The 2008 SWS Survey of Enterprises on Corruption found seven out of ten companies were asked for a bribe in an index-transaction – a record-high since 2005. Most bribe-solicitation trends are up; previous downtrends in Metro Manila in getting local government permits and income tax transactions were reversed. Reporting of bribe-attempts also rose slightly. Read more | Click here to view results (PDF)

December 9 is International Anti-Corruption Day, as designated by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Resolution 58/4 in 2003. The objective of the celebration is to raise awareness of the devastating effects of corruption on poverty reduction, human security and sustainable development, and to support local and global efforts to combat it.

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Bayanihang Eskwela
The Citizens Monitoring of School Building Construction Project
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