Reforms at DPWH save P15.45-B

Cai U. Ordinario

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The reforms at the Department of Public Works and Highways resulted in more savings for the government in 2013

BETTER ROADS. The national government is investing heavily on good governance practices to attain better roads at the right prices. Photo obtained from the Department of Public Works and Highways

MANILA, Philippines – Reforms in procurement process have saved the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) P15.45 billion as of February 2013.

In a session on the performance of the DPWH at a forum on Tuesday, March 19, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said this was higher than the P12 billion-worth savings booked in 2012.  

Removing the letter-of-intent-to-bid from the process was one of the biggest reforms, Singson said. This has prevented erring employees and unscrupulous businessmen to know who are bidding for which project. 

“In terms of right cost, we will continue to improve our procurement procedures so that we have competitive and transparent bidding. As of February, we have already saved over P15 billion in infrastructure, on the basis of bidding alone,” Singson said. 

This is one of the reasons why the perception of corruption in the DPWH has significantly improved. A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that the perception of corruption in DPWH offices nationwide has improved overall to -21% in 2012, compared to -65% in 2009. 

The DPWH has even beat its own target of attaining a rating of -20% in 2012. Moving forward, the DPWH intends to improve its rating to -10% in 2013, 0 in 2015 and eventually attain a +5% rating in 2016. 

The reforms in the DPWH has also been reflected on the country’s ranking in the 2012-2013 Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which showed that the quality of national roads in the country has improved. 

The implementation of these reform efforts led to delays in the bidding process in 2011, contributed to the sluggish economic growth of 3.9%. But when the reforms kicked off, public spending on infrastructure helped the economy grow an impressive 6.6% in 2012. 

Singson spoke at the Public Governance Forum organized by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia. – Rappler.com

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