P-NOY?S main campaign message was ?no corruption, no poverty?, and his promise was ?I will bring honest governance?.

How can P-Noy reverse the culture of corruption that has been one of the main themes of the Arroyo administration?

Corruption has become so pervasive and expensive that we sometimes long for the good old ?10 percenters? of the Marcos era. Perhaps that is why the Marcoses have had election success.

This culture of corruption is not just in the government sector.

A foreign friend of mine who sells medical equipment once asked me what was wrong with the Philippines.

I asked why? He said that the doctors in hospitals where he was selling medical equipment had asked for a 30-percent commission! No wonder that the cost of medical care keeps on rising, becoming unbearable for rich and poor alike.

What is sad is that these are doctors are not underpaid government officials and employees!

Government is, however, still more corrupt. My friend was also selling to a municipal hospital. He said the mayor had called him to complain about his proposal. My friend said, ?But Mayor, I already gave you my best price.? The mayor said, ?double it!?

Bringing honesty back to the Philippines will be a tough job for President Aquino. What should he do?

There are four major thrusts that the President should have:

1. Bring closure to major outstanding anomalous cases.

2. Identify other major anomalous projects.

3. Prevent future anomalies.

4. Discourage corruption and dishonesty

Closure on outstanding anomalies

There are many unresolved anomalies, which the Arroyo administration has protected.

In 2004, the Supreme Court stopped the Mega Pacific Comelec automation contract and recommended that charges be filed.

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez said there was insufficient evidence.

There are many others, like the fertilizer scam, NBN-ZTE, Hello Garci, etc.

To be able to successfully prosecute these cases, it may be necessary to first impeach the Ombudsman.

Investigation of other anomalies

There are a number of giant government procurements that look anomalous.

One case is the Comelec Smartmatic Automated Election System. A serious investigation will show that there was bias in favor of Smartmatic in the bid evaluation, contract terms, and failure to properly test the PCOS machines.

The continued importation of rice should likewise be investigated.

The P500-million Batangas Geographic Information System (GIS) project and the P50-million Pampanga GIS project should likewise be looked into.

I am not familiar with public works projects; however, I feel that investigation will uncover numerous cases.

Amendment of the Procurement Reform Law

While it has been said that we have many good laws, what we need is better implementation.

There is one big exception, the RA 9184 or the Procurement Reform Law. Many of the anomalous projects we have mentioned were made possible by taking advantage of many weaknesses of the law.

The law has the following weaknesses:

1. Section 32 provides for pass or fail criteria and the selection of the lowest qualified bidder (looks good!)

2. But Section 36 provides for bids with a single qualified bidder to push through.

Corrupt bidders and officials take advantage of these procedures to favor a bidder not necessarily with the lowest bid but one with the highest bribes.

Section 33 provides for weighted scoring in the choice of consultants. However, the process does not provide for a comparison of all the bidders.

All bidders are rated but the law does not allow the opening of all the financial bids. The technical bids are rated and ranked. The qualifications of the bidders are checked for qualification.

The financial bid of the qualified bidder with highest rating is opened first. If the bid is within the budget, the bid is awarded.

Unfortunately, there could have been much more cost-effective bids, which were not considered. This is a lost opportunity for government.

Prevention of future graft

An administration with the political will to investigate and prosecute anomalous government procurement will discourage future anomalous bids.

Bidders and government officials will not risk being caught.

Government will get better value and be able to provide better infrastructure, health care and education at lower cost.

Businesses will thrive and provide increased employment. Poverty will be dramatically reduced.

(The article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines. The author is President of Systems Sciences Consult, Inc. and member of the MAP National Issues Committee. Feedback at map@globelines.com.ph. For previous articles, please visit .)