MANILA - The Governance Commission for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GCG) has launched a whistleblowing portal aimed at curbing corrupt practices in state-owned corporations.

The whistleblowing portal will serve as an avenue for concerned citizens and employees to anonymously report wrongdoings committed by employees from the GCG and government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs)

Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, who delivered the keynote address during the launch, urged government agencies to step up their anti-corruption efforts by following the lead of the GCG.

“This kind of initiative can be a huge boost in our efforts to rid the government of corrupt officials and employees. We must work on compelling each agency to put up a whistleblowing online portal in order to encourage our people to speak up and report corruption cases,” Drilon said.

“By having concerned individuals who are not afraid to expose or disclose the wrongdoing, our fight against corruption will have a better chance of succeeding,” he added.

According to Secretary Cesar L. Villanueva, chairman of the GCG, the whistleblowing program will help the GCG more quickly identify and pursue wrongdoings that it might not have otherwise found on its own.

"The GCG's whistleblowing portal will enable us to be more responsive with complaints from the GOCC sector and save us much time and resources in the process," said Villanueva.

The development of the whistleblowing portal was spearheaded by the GCG's Office of the General Counsel.

General Counsel Christian M. Castillo underscored the importance of anonymity in the new whistleblowing portal.

"[The whistleblowing portal] ensures 100% anonymity of the whistleblower because he or she is not required to disclose his identity. Every report simply generates a PIN number which the whistleblower may use to track the status of his report or add more information to what he already submitted," Castillo explained.

"Anyone can submit reports without fear of being identified, which is a common disincentive to many potential whistleblowers," he added.

To access GCG's whistleblowing portal, log on to www.whistleblowing.gcg.gov.ph. The concerned citizen will be asked to provide details of the report by filling out the online form.

"There are items that you just tick and a few lines for composing messages as well as an opportunity to attach documents," said Castillo. "[We] encourage the general public to use this website as their primary reporting channel.