To crack corruption, Philippines needs whistleblower protection law: UN agency

Manila: Corruption and impunity in the Philippines thrives due to severe lack of one thing: whistleblower protection laws.

Until now, whistleblowers in the Asian nation are left to fend for themselves.

This makes them vulnerable to overwhelming retaliation from the powerful and well connected, thus perpetuating a cycle of theft of public funds, subpar infrastructure and poverty.

It's also contributed to the culture of impunity.

Amidst the massive corruption scandals linked to ghost or subpar infrastructure, a national whistleblower protection law, alongside relaxed bank secrecy rules are needed, said experts.

Legal reforms

These two legal reforms, in tandem with a full freedom of information (FOI) act are urgently needed to boost the fight against corruption, a top United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) official warned Tuesday.

Kirbee Tibayan, UNODC country representative, praised recent “wins” like the new Government Procurement Act — a direct response to massive flood control scandals that exposed procurement fraud.​

But she slammed key gaps in the legal toolkit.

Safeguards missing

“We don’t have a national Whistleblower Protection Act,” Tibayan said in Filipino during an ambush interview at the Ombudsman Strategic Planning Session in Baguio City.

“Whistleblowers provide most corruption intel, but they’re not adequately protected,” she stressed.

Bank secrecy chokehold

Tibayan also blasted the Bank Secrecy Act (RA 1405) as too rigid and archaic, blocking access to financial trails crucial for corruption cases.

“If relaxed further, investigators and prosecutors could do their jobs better,” she suggested.

The law prohibits the disclosure of any information regarding bank deposits to any person, with limited exceptions. 

FOI 'too narrow'

The current Executive Order No. 2 only covers executive-branch info. Tibayan called for broader FOI spanning legislative and judicial branches too.

Tibayan urged formal data-sharing and inter-agency cooperation, plus a dedicated public procurement fraud task force.

“Many agencies fight corruption, but without institutionalized support mechanisms, they’re less effective,” she concluded.