Legislation: Corruption-specific legislation in the Philippines dates back to 1960, when the country passed its first anti-corruption law, although provisions for penalties for corrupt officials were originally established by the Act Revising the Penal Code 1930. The Philippines ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2006. Corrupt practices are addressed by the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, which criminalise attempted corruption, active and passive bribery, extortion, bribing a foreign official, using confidential state information for private gain, money laundering, and organised crime. The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act requires that public officials file Statements of Assets and Liability and Networth (SALN) every second year. The Constitution 1987 also includes articles on accountability of public officials and SALN (Art. IX, sect. 1-18). An Act Establishing a Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees was passed in 1989 and formulated standards for personal integrity and accountability of civil servants. Rules on gifts are included in the code of conduct and explicitly forbid solicitations of gifts, favours, etc. The Revised Penal Code also defines gifts as bribes (Art. 210), and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act forbids officials from receiving gifts (sect. 3). The Constitution 1987 (Art. 6, sect. 20, Art. 2, sect. 28 and Art. 3, sect. 7) stipulates that transparency must be upheld by requiring all records of Congress to be preserved and made open to the public and the Commission on Audit (see below) to annually publish a list of amounts paid and expenses used by each Member of Congress. The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, which will require a greater transparency from government officials, failed to pass in June 2010 due to lack of quorum, as reported in a 2010 news article by The Philippine Star. According to a 2011 news article by ABS-CBN News, President Aquino wants the FOI bill to be revised, and has stated that he is not comfortable with all ‘raw information’ on government affairs being made publicly available, according to ABS-CBN News. Access the Lexadin World Law Guide for a collection of laws in the Philippines.

Government Strategies: The government's anti-corruption activities are viewed as an integral part of the overall development strategy, which has been developed in cooperation with international organisations, such as the Asian Development Bank, USAID, the World Bank and others. According to AFTA Sources, in March 2011, President Aquino approved the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) for 2011-2016, in which the overarching theme is good governance and anti-corruption while achieving inclusive growth, which would create substantial employment opportunities as well as reduce poverty. The low level of business confidence in the judicial system led to the implementation of the Action Programme for Judicial Reform, proposed and developed by a former Chief of Justice and supported by several international donors to rectify the deficiencies in the judicial system and turn it into an efficient, independent and transparent body. However, many of the reforms in the programme were not implemented, and the programme did not generate the government's desired effect. The tax system was another area that was chosen to be a target of reforms. In order to improve governance, reduce corruption and increase tax revenues, the World Bank stepped in with a loan to support the Board of Internal Revenues' (BIR) programme to modernise the tax administration system in 2007. As an anti-corruption measure, the government has established a reward scheme where the tax agencies that meet their targets or surpass them are rewarded, while those that do not meet their quotas are punished. Nevertheless, the BIR is still perceived by Filipinos as one of the most corrupt government agencies in the country, as illustrated in a March 2011 national survey conducted by Pulse Asia. In July 2010, President Aquino signed Executive Order No. 1 (EO No.1), which established a Truth Commission to probe allegations of corruption and anomalies under the former President Arroyo. However, a 2010 news article in GMA News reports that the Supreme Court in December 2010 ruled EO No. 1 unconstitutional, for the reason that it violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution. Despite that the ruling poses a major setback to the Aquino administration’s effort to institute reforms, the Palace spokesman, as cited in the news article, states that the Supreme Court’s decision will not stop the Aquino administration’s efforts to reform.

Anti-Corruption Agencies: According to Global Integrity 2008, there were 17 governmental anti-graft agencies as of 2006, however, the Office of the Ombudsman (see below) serves as the main anti-corruption agency authorised to investigate and prosecute corruption cases involving public officials. It also takes care of corruption prevention measures, such as awareness-raising campaigns and analysing anti-corruption measures. The Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) was established in 2001 to investigate and to hear administrative cases and complaints against erring presidential appointees, as well as to assist the President in anti-corruption campaigns. However, in November 2010, President Aquino signed the Executive Order No.13 (EO No.13), which abolishes the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC). According to a November 2010 news article by ABS-CBN News, the abolition is part of the policy on streamlining the government bureaucracy, as the PAGC’s functions are already covered by the Ombudsman’s Office. According to a May 2011 news article by The Philippine Star, currently, the EO No.13 on PAGC abolition is being challenged, and the Malacañang (the official office of the President of the Philippines) is required to answer a petition in the Supreme Court questioning the PAGC abolition, before a ruling on its constitutionality is made.

Office of the Ombudsman: The Office of the Ombudsman has existed for several decades and it was strengthened in 2003 by a doubling of its budget that increased its investigative and prosecutorial capacities. According to a 2009 news archive from the United Nations Development Programme, the government announced the Office of the Ombudsman as the country's leading anti-corruption agency in 2006. Corruption cases are brought before the Sandiganbayan, a special court for handling such cases. Criticism of the Office of the Ombudsman has focused mainly on targeting petty corruption instead of targeting the 'big fish'. This is further supported by the Bertelsmann Foundation 2010, which reports that the Ombudsman has been accused by CSOs for turning a blind eye to a series of corruption complaints against individuals who are closely tied to the former President. In April 2011, the Ombudsman, Merceditas Gutierrez, resigned after politicians voted to impeach her. Ms Gutierrez was accused of failing to probe corruption allegations against former President Arroyo and her administration, as reported in a 2011 article by BBC News. According to a May 2011 news article by The Philippine Star, the resignation takes effect on May 6th 2011 and the President has until August 4th 2011 to name her successor.

Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC): Congress established the AMLC financial intelligence unit in 2001. The AMLC's task is to carry out investigations into money laundering activities and analyse data from banks and financial institutions regulated by the Central Bank of the Republic of the Philippines, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Insurance Commission (IC). According to the House of Representatives, the AMLC can file complaints with the Ombudsman as well as the Department of Justice (DOJ) in order to get money laundering offenders prosecuted or start civil forfeiture proceedings in cooperation with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG). According to the US Department of State 2010, observers such as the Asia Pacific Group has expressed some concerns over the current Anti-Money Laundering Act, in particular that some businesses such as casinos are currently excluded from the Act, as well as a 2008 court ruling that made it more difficult for the AMLC to get information about suspicious bank accounts. However, the AMLC itself is pushing for increased authority in these areas. According to a March 2011 news article by Inquirer, the executive director of the AMLC states that casinos are in fact, used as a medium in money-laundering operations. The same source also reports that the AMLC proposes that casinos should be covered under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Commission on Audit (COA): The COA was established in accordance with the Constitution 1987. It not only monitors government financial operations, but also has the authority to examine and audit all public financial transactions. Furthermore, it plays an important role in promoting transparency and accountability in public financial transactions. In this capacity, the COA is currently engaged in implementing an electronic New Government Accounting System. In the pursuit of greater transparency, the COA has launched an interactive portal that has a Fraud Alert Form with which whistleblowers can easily report fraud, mismanagement and waste of public funds. However, the portal cannot guarantee anonymity. According to Global Integrity 2008, although the COA has helped expose corruption and illegal practices, it does not have the authority to prosecute and punish corrupt civil servants, a task which is left to other relevant offices. These offices, however, are not obliged by law to follow up COA recommendations. Furthermore, COA officials often face harassment and threats as a result of exposing corrupt practices.

Lifestyle Check Coalition (LCC): The LCC was established in March 2003. It comprised of 16 government agencies and NGOs, in order to investigate the ethics, nightlife and lifestyles of government officials. According to The Philippine Information Agency Rising to the Challenge of Good Governance 2009, over 200 lifestyle checks were conducted since it came into force. The President Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with ten of the most corruption prone public agencies to mandate them to submit at least one ‘big fish’ case and/or lifestyle check to either the PAGC or the Ombudsman Office every three months. However, according to Global Integrity 2008, this measure has not yet proven effective in exposing high-level corruption, as only low-level officials have been investigated. Moreover, there have not been any updates on the progress of the LCC since 2005.

Commission on Elections (COMELEC): The COMELEC dates back to 1940, when it was established as an independent body to conduct and supervise elections in the Philippines. It represents an attempt to rid elections of irregularities, such as election-rigging, vote-buying and corruption. However, the COMELEC's reputation has been tarnished by several scandals. One of the most famous scandals involves a taped conversation between former President Arroyo and the COMELEC commissioner during the presidential election vote-counting in 2004. It is unclear whether the conversation was a serious attempt to rig the votes or whether the conversation was 'merely' an example of conflict of interest. According to Global Integrity 2008, there are no indications of any reduction in the level of electoral corruption and irregularities.

Centre for Asian Integrity (CAI): The CAI has been set up by the Office of the Ombudsman, the University of the Philippines, Australian universities and international donors in 2008. It is funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) - Philippine Threshold Program through the Asia Foundation. The CAI is a virtual academy that offers training courses on anti-corruption and governance. The main objective of the project is to enhance integrity of Philippine government agencies, companies as well as NGOs. Click here for more information about the CAI.

E-Governance: Development of e-governance has been slow in the Philippines, primarily because so few people have Internet access. The Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR) has become more transparent with the use of electronic information exchange to connect to the One-Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center. According to the World Bank & IFC Doing Business 2011, the time spent dealing with the tax authorities amounts to only 195 hours annually, which is slightly below the OECD average, indicating that e-registration and e-payment of taxes has had a positive effect. The Bureau of Customs has also set up web-enabled clearance and payment service. The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) was launched by the Department of Budget and Management, and is expected to be fully operational by the last quarter of 2011. According to a February 2011 news article by Future Gov, once the PhilGEPS is fully implemented, all government agencies will be required to transact their procurement needs through this central portal.

Public Procurement: The Government Procurement Reform Act 2003 stipulates that preference in purchasing be given to companies with at least a 60% Filipino ownership, thus favouring local suppliers. A government e-procurement system has been implemented in most government departments as well as government-controlled companies and organisations in order to help reduce graft and corruption in procurement. Procurements are mandated by the Act to be published to the general public. However, according to Global Integrity 2008, there have been cases where some major tenders, especially foreign-funded projects, were published just before the closing date for bids, which gave bidders insufficient time to react and submit their bids. The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) is the central online portal where all public procurement activities are posted. This is meant to be a vehicle to increase transparency within government procurement procedures. If bidders are found to be providing false information, or otherwise violating bidding regulations, they may be blacklisted. The list of debarred bidders can be found on the Government Procurement Policy Board website. Procurement manuals and documents are also available on the website. As a means of inhibiting opportunities for conflicts of interest within public procurement, decisions regarding procurement are made by a panel consisting of 5-7 officials; these officials are regularly rotated. Another initiative the government took to improve the procurement transparency is the creation of Procurement Transparency Group under the Executive Order 662-A. The group is led by the Government Procurement Policy Board, and its main tasks include evaluating and monitoring government procurements, as reported in Transparency International's Global Corruption Report 2009.

Whistle-Blowing: In 2007, Congress drafted legislation to protect public and private sector whistleblowers. The hope is that this legislation will help to reduce corruption across all sectors. According to the Whistleblower Bill, it will be the Ombudsman who will be responsible for setting up the whistleblower programme. A 2011 news article by The Philippine Star reports that the House committee on justice has passed the proposed Whistleblowers’ Act in May 2011. Under the bill, a whistleblower will be protected from all forms of retaliatory actions, and anyone who prevents a whistleblower from testifying can face between six months to six years in prison. On the other hand, the bill also imposes six to twelve year prison terms on whistleblowers who report false and misleading testimonies. According to the same source cited above, the bill is expected to be reported out for plenary approval within a short time frame. Until a specific law is passed, whistleblower protection is, according to Global Integrity 2008, covered in laws that deal with witness and complainants protection (R.A. 6981 and P.D No. 749). Whistleblowers are frequently subject to harassment and intimidation. In the beginning of 2008, a high-profile case of a whistleblower feeling threatened and harassed broke in the media. According to several 2009 news sources including The Philippine Star, police officers sent by the government kidnapped Jun Lozada, a government official, in order to prevent him from testifying in the Senate on the overpricing of a government contract for national broadband. This case directly implicated former President Arroyo's husband and the chairman of the COMELEC. The government allegedly sent the police as protection against death threats against Lozada. In 2009, Lozada was arrested on charges of perjury filed by one of former President Arroyo's close associates. In sum, whistleblower protections in the Philippines are still very weak.

General Comments on the Public Anti-Corruption Initiatives: In December 2010, the Supreme Court declared that the Executive Order No.1 creating the Truth Commission was unconstitutional, impeding President Aquino’s campaign to probe corruption allegations against former President Arroyo and her administration. It remains to be seen how President Aquino can tackle the country's corruption problem. Although the government declares that anti-corruption measures are of the highest priority, public sentiments on corruption issues in the country suggest that there is a mismatch between the proclaimed commitment to counter corruption and the actual effects of these measures. The government has shown commitment to e-governance as an attempt to increase transparency and to stamp out much of the corruption caused by face-to-face interactions with public officials, but one of the obstacles is that many Filipinos have no Internet access. Many anti-corruption initiatives are conducted in cooperation with international donor organisations. However, even though there are a large number of anti-corruption measures and initiatives, implementation of and compliance with such measures still lags behind.