The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), the lead agency in the Arroyo administration’s fight against poverty, has again received a special citation from the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) for measures the agency has undertaken to curb corruption, Malacañang announced recently.

NAPC Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said his agency received a special “anti-corruption” award from PAGC after placing ninth among 177 agencies for the second consecutive semesters in 2009. The country’s principal poverty reduction agency was recognized for its compliance in implementing the national government’s Integrity Development Action Plan’s (IDAP) anti-corruption measures.

"We are obviously very pleased with the consecutive awards, especially so since NAPC had been among the ranks of the bottom 10 of PAGC's anti-corruption list as recently as 2007," Panganiban said.

This year, the award was received by Acting Undersecretary Catherine Mae C. Santos at the Land Bank of the Philippines Plaza in Manila. Topping the PAGC awards were the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).

Speakers at the award ceremonies included former Hong Kong chief graft buster Tony Man-Wai Kwok, now honorary adviser to President Arroyo on anti-corruption measures. Kwok was the architect of Hong Kong's successful anti-corruption framework, which the Philippine administration has adopted.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Administrative Order No. (AO) 255, issued in early 2009, calls for the adoption of "zero tolerance for corruption" and the promotion of the Filipino values as embodied in the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

AO 255, issued in early 2009, calls for public officials to observe the principle of moral leadership by example and to adopt a Moral Renewal Program (MRP) in their agencies, with the IDAP serving as the national anti-corruption framework. The program includes value formation, intensification of the Integrity Committee and the "formulation, promulgation and adoption of an agency-specific Code of Conduct, or the updating of existing Codes of Conduct to reflect the IDAP."

All agencies are also instructed to participate in the activities of the Presidential Council on Values Formation, and to "enlist the participation of religious, civil society and civic groups through consultations, program development, promotion and implementation of their Moral Renewal Program."