Speech by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the Ceremonial Signing of the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA) and the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA)

Speeches 20 July 2024

Thank you, Executive Secretary, Secretary Luc Bersamin.

[Please take your seats.]

The Senate President, Senate President Chiz Escudero; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Speaker Martin Romualdez; our newly minted Department of Education Secretary, Secretary Sonny Angara [applause]. Welcome to wild, wild world of the Cabinet; Department of Budget and Management Secretary, Secretary Amenah Pangandaman [applause]; Presidential Legislative Adviser Mark Llandro Mendoza [applause]; Bangko Sentral Governor, Governor Eli Remolona [applause]; all my fellow workers in government; ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

We have just signed into law two new bills that will move us closer to attaining a strong, more responsive, and efficient bureaucracy, and to establishing safeguards for the financial rights and welfare of every Filipino.

First, we have the New Government Procurement Act or the NGPA, which updated Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The NGPA streamlines the procurement process from three months to just sixty days by standardizing procurement forms and institutionalizing electronic procurement.

One of the salient features of this law is the provision of eleven new modalities of procurement. This will afford greater flexibility for government agencies in choosing how to best acquire goods and services.

The NGPA also introduces a new concept, the Most Economically Advantageous Responsive Bid. This is actually an attempt to consider the qualitative, not only the purely quantitative, but the qualitative, economic value of any proposal, as an alternative to the prevailing practice of which we now do of choosing just the cheapest product or what we now call the Lowest Calculated and Responsive Bid.

This frees us from the obligation of selecting the lowest-priced bid when there is a better choice. This will ensure that we get not only the best prices but the best deals for our clients, the Filipino people.

Another important feature is the conduct of Strategic Procurement Planning, which mandates more detailed and purposeful planning to increase the success rates of procurement transactions.

In procurement, we also take into account our environment. The inclusion of sustainable and green public procurement practices in this law demonstrate the country’s commitment in addressing the worsening pollution and challenges of climate change.

The other important law that we have just signed today is the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act or AFASA.

To combat the surge in crimes involving scams online, this new law mandates financial institutions to implement necessary safeguards to protect our citizens’ accounts and this is essential in this time as cybercriminals use technology to defraud fellow Filipinos — causing not only personal economic loss through them but also a loss of trust in financial institutions.

It will protect our people from falling prey to perpetrators who target their banks and e-wallet accounts.

The AFASA also defines and penalizes money muling activities, social engineering schemes, economic sabotage, and other offenses involving financial accounts.

Moreover, this law authorizes the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to investigate and inquire into financial accounts that may be involved in the commission of prohibited acts, and to apply for cybercrime warrants with respect to electronic communications used in any violation of this measure.

I hope that, through this law, we can deter the majority of the financial scams that we have been seeing while at the same time fostering greater trust in our digitization efforts.

So, at this point, I would like to convey my gratitude to our colleagues in the House of Representatives and in the Senate for passing these two very important laws.

May you continue this streak of passing progressive, innovative, and people-centered laws.

With you as partners in improving government and uplifting the lives of our people, I’m confident that we will achieve a more inclusive, just, and resilient society.

Congratulations to you all. Mabuhay ang bawat Pilipino! [applause] Mabuhay ang Bagong Pilipinas! Maraming salamat po at magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat.

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