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MAKATI CITY, 2 February 2026 – The Department of Education (DepEd) has formalized a partnership with Open Ownership to strengthen transparency, integrity, and risk detection in public procurement, particularly in the education sector where government spending is largest and most geographically dispersed.
The partnership was sealed through a memorandum of agreement signed on Monday, positioning DepEd to pilot the use of beneficial ownership data in procurement. Beneficial ownership refers to identifying the natural persons who ultimately own, control, or benefit from companies participating in government contracts, beyond the names of incorporators or signatories on paper.
“Gusto naming malaman kung sino talaga ang nasa likod ng mga kumpanyang ka-transaksiyon ng gobyerno. Kapag malinaw iyon, mas madaling maiwasan ang problema at mas mabilis na maihatid ang silid-aralan, libro, at tulong na kailangan ng mga bata. Mas siguradong sa paaralan napupunta ang pera, hindi sa bulsa ng iilan,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said.
With a record budget this 2026, DepEd is the country’s largest procuring entity, with procurement activities that directly affect classrooms, textbooks, school buildings, and learner support nationwide. The agency sees stronger transparency and risk management as key to ensuring that education funds are delivered more quickly and effectively to schools.
Under the agreement, DepEd and Open Ownership will conduct a retrospective analysis of selected procurement contracts to examine how beneficial ownership information can help flag potential conflicts of interest, undisclosed related parties, bid rotation, and market concentration. The pilot will also test which data points are most useful, at what stages of procurement they matter most, and how their impact can be measured.
Angara said the initiative supports ongoing reforms to improve budget execution and reduce procurement risks, ensuring that public investments translate into timely delivery of classrooms, learning materials, and services for learners.
The initiative aligns with the New Government Procurement Act, which institutionalized beneficial ownership transparency as a safeguard against corruption and collusion in public contracting. The law requires suppliers to disclose information on who ultimately controls or benefits from their companies, shifting procurement oversight from a purely compliance-based approach to a more risk-based and evidence-driven system.
Open Ownership, an international organization that supports governments in implementing beneficial ownership transparency, will provide technical assistance, capacity-building, and analytical tools to DepEd procurement officials. This includes hands-on workshops and the co-development of an impact measurement framework to assess how beneficial ownership data improves procurement outcomes.
DepEd emphasized that the pilot is a learning and system-strengthening exercise, not an investigation or a finding of wrongdoing. Results are expected to inform future policy refinements, internal controls, and procurement processes across the department.
DepEd is one of the first government agencies in the Philippines to pilot the systematic use of beneficial ownership data in public procurement, marking a significant step in operationalizing procurement reforms and advancing data-informed governance, as education continues to receive one of the largest allocations in the national budget.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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