Php 1 Billion Anti-Corruption Fund Given by H.E. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo  

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on 19 June 2006 announced the allotment of a PhP1 billion fund to cover the various anti-corruption projects of the Executive Department with PAGC at the helm to ensure efficient coordination of efforts.  Some of these anticorruption programs include the roll out of the Integrity Development Action Plan or IDAP in all agencies nationwide, focusing on projects and activities heavy on systems improvement, on values formation, moral recovery, capability building for investigators to ensure air tight cases, and shall likewise cover high impact anti illegal drugs campaign and other equally directly responsive projects for the next two years.   

The priority projects on a per agency beneficiary include:

1) Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) – which is given P407 million for its project on the “Strengthening of PDEA and Integrity/Accountability Development Program,” which aims to have an increase in the number of successful operations and prosecution of drug cases, increase public trust in drug law enforcement and public participation in the anti-drug campaign, and to have no PDEA agent involved in any irregularities.  Aside from capacity building of the agency as a whole, included in the project package are construction of evidence storage and destruction facilities, establishment of information systems enhancement program, and activation of the PDEA Operation “Private Eye” Reward Committee and Court Watch Project 

2)  Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) - with a share amounting to P153 million to help fast track implementation of projects under its RATE’s or Run After Tax Evaders’ program. The desired outcomes of BIR’s anti-corruption project include:  a strong system of internal control, improved risk identification and risk management, increased number of quality and timely audits and audit reports released to serve as an effective management tool, improved proficiency in graft detection and prevention, reduced incidence of violations of administrative policies and controls, increased productivity of the investigators and hearing officers, increased transparency and accountability of Investigating and Hearing Officers, and efficient and effective prosecution of tax evasion cases.                 

3) Bureau of Customs (BOC) - is given P105 million for its project on “Enhancing Integrity in Customs”.  Its deliverables includes improvement in the capacity and strengthening of capability of the Legal Service in handling cases under the RATS or Run After The Smugglers program and corollary projects financed under the Millennium Challenge Account Program for the Philippines; improvement of the auction and cargo disposal process and development of operations manual to make day to day operations less vulnerable to corruption risks, thereby resulting in an increased revenues from auction proceedings in all ports by not less than 20%; operationalization of the BOC training center to lower training costs and provide extensive training and development programs for customs personnel to improve capacity,  competency and integrity; strengthen capability of the Internal Control Office to improve processes and systems based on results of audits; and to come out with a BOC Communication Plan to enable the Bureau to consistently inform its stakeholders of the Bureau’s initiatives on anti-corruption, with the end view of helping reverse the negative perception not because of sanitized reports but by cascading to every single individual positive and real developments in all transactions. 

4) PCVF or the Presidential Council for Values Formation is given P60.5 million- its project, “Fighting Corruption thru Values Formation” aims to establish a sustainable, programmatic values formation program in government, and increase support of private sector and civil society for government values program and reform initiatives. 

5) PNP or the Philippine National Police gets P37.0 million for their PNP Anti-Kotong TXT Project which aims to charge erring personnel, prevent occurrence of “kotong’, widen the capability of the system to accommodate complaints, and improved skills in handling cases and increase in conviction rate. 

The balance of over P200 million is administered by PAGC for the projects earlier mentioned and for all other projects that need to be done as an offshoot of the current programs being implemented.  Part of the budget shall likewise be used for the development and implementation of a Communication and Advocacy Plan for the anti-corruption efforts of the Executive Branch which aims to: a) develop a strategic communications plan that will effectively relay the message that the projects under the Php1 billion fund are not just mere rhetoric nor lip service; b) to enjoin the support of the wider public (including the media) through the effectiveness of the activities identified in the communications plan.                        

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED TO ASSIST THE PROJECT BENEFICIARIES OF THE P1BILLION FUND 

·        July 12-14, 2006 –Project Development Training/Workshop – to assist project beneficiaries in the development of appropriate project proposals to be funded by the P1B A/C Fund and to ensure that all projects are in line towards the accomplishment of a common goal 

·        July 20, 2006 – Write-shop – to intensively assist the project beneficiaries in improving their project proposals 

·        October 30-31, 2006 – Final Write-shop – to assist the project beneficiaries in finalizing their project proposals 

·        November 16, 2006 – Submission of final project proposal to DBM – to effect budget release

·        January – March 2007 – Release of SARO to respective agencies – to effect the implementation of the respective projects 

·        May 7-10, 2007 – Communication and Advocacy Planning Workshop in partnership with the Phil. Information Agency (PIA) – to craft a general and agency-specific communication and advocacy plan for the projects under the fund 

·        May 15-17, 2007 – Project Management Workshop in partnership with USAID-ROLE - to build the capability of project implementers on essential project management methods and processes