In pursuit of transparency and accountability, the Department of Budget and Management, in partnership with the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, Procurement Service, and Government Procurement Policy Board Technical Support Office, staged a three-day Good Governance Summit from January 15 to 17 at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Some of the good governance reforms featured during the summit included two programs of the National Competitiveness Council, which hosted breakout sessions on the first day.

The first was a presentation by Social Weather Stations President Mangar Mangahas on the results of the 2013 Annual Enterprise Survey on Corruption. Conducted by SWS in partnership with NCC, The Asia Foundation, Australian Agency for International Development, Integrity Initiative, Makati Business Club, and Management Association of the Philippines, the survey aimed to measure the quality of public services and the prevalence of corruption in the bureaucracy as seen by Filipino businessmen. (Click here for the SWS press release.) 

For the next session, NCC Private Sector Co-Chairman Guillermo Luz outlined the details of “Gameplan for Competitiveness 2.0”, which takes off from the reforms accomplished by the Ease of Doing Business Task Force organized by the President. The first Gameplan led to significant cuts in the procedures, costs, and time associated with doing business and a 30-notch jump by the Philippines on the Doing Business Report of the World Bank-International Finance Corporation. (See related story here.) 

Gameplan 2.0 builds on the first Gameplan by setting new reform targets based on ASEAN benchmarks. To be effective, Luz said that these reforms have to be enforced, implemented, and used by a majority. He commended the Ease of Doing Business Task Force for their efforts and challenged them to work even harder to raise competitiveness rankings. (Click here to download Gameplan 2.0)

Aside from the NCC breakout sessions, the Good Governance Summit also featured the launching of the Cashless Purchase Card System to modernize procurement and Open Data Philippines to empower the public with information.

During the plenary, President Aquino cited good governance reforms as necessary to ensure that government processes are there to serve the people regardless of who is in office. “Greater efficiency, integrity, and true service—these are the principles behind the reforms we have made,” he stressed.