UP-NCPAG Flag Raising Ceremony

( 7 December 2009 )

By
Atty. Evelyn A. Almogela-Baliton
Assistant Ombudsman, PACPO

The Distinguished Dean of UP-NCPAG, Dr. Alex Brillantes
Esteemed Members of the Faculty and Other Staff of UP-NCPAG here present
Fellow public servants, Ladies and Gentlemen:

A pleasant and refreshing morning to everyone!

First of all, I would like to thank Dean Brillantes for inviting me to be your Speaker this morning to talk about the Multi-Sectoral Anti-Corruption Council (MSACC), of which the UP- NCPAG is a member, and its role in implementing the National Anti-Corruption Program of Action of the Philippines.

Today's topic is quite relevant as we commemorate this coming December 9 th the International Anti-Corruption Day designated by the United Nations in order to raise awareness of the wide-range of corrosive effects on societies of this insidious plague called corruption. To address this scourge at the global level, the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) has been adopted as a new instrument to prevent and control corruption.

The UNCAC was signed on December 9, 2003 in Merida, Mexico by 140 States Parties, including the Philippines. It was subsequently ratified by the Philippine Senate on November 8, 2006. The Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit are the central authorities tasked to implement the provisions of the UNCAC.

As we all know, corruption is a major constraint to a sustained economic growth as it weakens investment confidence, thus reducing productive employment opportunities and growth of incomes. Poor governance distorts access to services for the marginalized members of society. Consequently, it lowers the rate of public confidence in government in terms of its effectiveness to provide basic services to its citizens.

At the national level, a multitude of diffused and oftentimes overlapping anti-corruption efforts have been pursued by different sectors in our society. Apparently, however, these initiatives have not created much impact such that for the past five years the Transparency International's corruption perception index (CPI) of the Philippines consistently remained low. Although lately its ranking improved: from 141 out of 180 countries in 2008 to 139 this year, the improvement in its CPI is not quite significant (2.3 in 2008 and 2.4 in 2009).

Thus, a holistic and strategic approach is imperative. A convergence strategy for collective action was crystallized when various stakeholders representing different sectors of our society signified their commitment to convergence for a better coordinated and more focused approach in combating corruption. On March 17, 2006 a Convergence Summit was held wherein multi-sectoral stakeholders signed a Covenant to support the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Program of Action (NACPA).

A year later, Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez convened a number of sectoral representatives from the government, private sector and civil society and officially launched the Multi-Sectoral Anti-Corruption Council (MSACC) which was highlighted by the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement to support the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Roadmap of the Philippines called the NACPA.

Incidentally, the UP NCPAG representing the academe is among the founding members of the MSACC. The other members included representatives from the three branches of Government, namely: the executive department, judiciary and the bi-cameral legislature, as well as the constitutional bodies-- the Civil Service Commission and Commission on Audit. Representatives from civil society including the media, faith-based organizations, business sector, professional groups and non-government organizations also comprise the Council membership.

The Council has committed to pursue the objectives of the NACPA through democratic consultative approaches that are consistent with the respective mandates and vision/mission of the member agencies/organizations. And to sustain the operations of the Council, its members have pledged to make available for the same purpose, and as permissible, their respective resources.

The Council envisions to foster good governance that is founded on integrity, transparency and accountability. It aims to streamline and strengthen institutional anti-corruption commitments under a comprehensive strategic framework that includes the UNCAC, the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP 2008-2012) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs,2000). The UNCAC introduces a comprehensive set of standards, measures and rules that all countries can apply in order to strengthen their legal and regulatory regimes to fight corruption. It calls for preventive measures and the criminalization of the most prevalent forms of corruption in both public and private sectors. And as a major breakthrough, it requires Member States to return assets obtained through corruption to the country from which they were stolen.

In November last year, the Council conducted a series of focused group discussion so assess the country's compliance with the UNCAC. The Philippine Roadmap for the implementation of the UNCAC was officially made public during the First Philippine Summit on the UNCAC last 27 May 2009 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. The culminating activity of said event was the signing of the Multi-sectoral Covenant Supporting the Compliance of the Philippines with the UNCAC.

It is in this context that as part of our awareness campaign and advocacy, we have intensified our efforts to solicit the active participation of multi-sectoral stakeholders in addressing the gaps in our compliance with the mandatory provisions of the UNCAC. Let us build on the collaborative partnership we have forged thru the MSACC. While we recognize sustainability and effectiveness of this convergence as challenge to the success of our anti-corruption work, the combined efforts of the MSACC to institutionalize governance policies and integrity reforms by champions in their respective areas of influence, as well as the adoption of monitoring and review mechanisms to periodically assess our progress, can generate much optimism to achieve positive results.

The 2009 Political Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) Report showed that the Philippines has posted the highest gains in the area of eradication of corruption. The rating of the Philippines (0 to 10 as worst) improved significantly from 9 in 2008 to 7 in 2009. This is a manifestation that the country's holistic approach and multi-sectoral convergence strategy are gaining ground and should inspire Filipinos, whether in the government or the private sector or civil society, to relentlessly exert more efforts to pursue our common goal to eradicate, or at least, significantly reduce incidents of corruption in the country. May God bless our efforts to establish a corruption-intolerant society.

Thank you for your generous attention . Mabuhay tayong lahat!

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