VII.1 Governance Reform Initiatives of the PNoy Administration

Sub-outcome 3.2. Intensified efforts to prevent smuggling and tax evasion

• Run After the Smugglers (RATS) Program • Bureau of Customs (BOC) Reform Project • Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) Program Outcome 4. Improved policy environment for good governance Sub-outcome 4.1. Greater support for the passage of priority legislations • Whistleblowers Protection Act • Retirement and Benefits and Pension Law for Uniformed Personnel • Civil Service Code • FOI Bill • Amendments to the Ombudsman Act

Source: (Cabinet Cluster on Governance and Anti-Corruption, 2014).

Box VII.1. Governance Reform initiatives of the PNoy Administration

Institutionalization of public accountability

• Reformed the budget process o On-time approval of annual national budget o No re-enacted budgets o General Appropriations Act-as-release-document policy • Intensified fight vs. graft and corruption o Plunder and graft cases filed against public officials in high offices, including former President Arroyo, and incumbent senators and congressmen embroiled in PDAF scam o Impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona; resignation of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez o 710 cases filed against tax evaders, smugglers, and erring government officials and employees o BIR’s Tax Watch Campaign, which increased tax collection from 12.1% (of GDP) in 2010 to 13.6% in 2014 o DPWH’s 5Rs approach (right projects, right cost, right quality, right people, and right-on-time project implementation) which curbed collusion among bidders, increasing competition and realized savings to Php48.55 billion o Enactment of GOCC Governance Act and creation of Governance Commission for GOCCs, which regulated allowances and bonuses to GOCC boards, reduction of number of GOCCs from 140 in 2011 to 102 in 2015, and increased profitability of the sector • Good governance practices institutionalized o Awarding of Seal of Good Housekeeping (SGH)/Local Governance (SLG) to local government units (LGUs) with exemplary performance in internal housekeeping, fiscal management, business friendliness, disaster preparedness, social protection and effective peace and order o Provision of Performance Challenge Fund to SGH/SGL awardees enabling them to start business and economic enterprises o Full Disclosure Policy on financial transactions of LGUs and national government agencies • Professional and motivated civil service o Institutionalization of performance-based bonus through performance-based incentive system (PBIS) on-time approval of annual national budget o Ensure compliance to Transparency Seal program, Citizen’s Charter o Use of PhilGEPS for procurement and bidding • Enforcing frontline and regulatory processes o Improving ease of doing business by simplification of business processes and reducing application process from four to five days to 30 minutes o SEC’s Integrated Business Registration System that reduced the procedures from 16 to six steps and shortened incorporation period from 34 to a maximum of eight days o 83% of LGUs adopting Business Permits and Licensing Systems that shortened the process from one to three months to one to three days; o Regulatory Simplification for Local Governments Project, which provides standards for business applications and renewals as well as for costs/fees and processes for required government applications across LGUs; BIR’s electronic certificate authorizing registration (e-CAR) that reduced processing time from 14 days to five to ten days