A new law in the Philippines mandating the disclosure of beneficial ownership aims to eliminate “shady dummy bidding schemes” in government projects, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said Monday.
The Government Procurement Act (NGPA), signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in July 2024, requires companies participating in public procurement to reveal the identities of those who actually own, control or have significant influence over them, according to Pangandaman.
“The disclosure of beneficial ownership is a powerful feature of the new law because it ensures that conflicts of interest in public procurement are avoided,” said Pangandaman, who chairs the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB).
“We are closing the doors on corruption and collusion in bidding for government projects,” she said.
The disclosure of beneficial ownership is provided under Sections 81 and 82 of Republic Act No. 12009, or the NGPA.
This provision is seen as crucial following a study by the GPPB–Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO) which indicated widespread common ownership and links to officials among bidders.
“Based on a 2023 TSO survey, we found out that 65.8 percent of bidders have common owners, based on a random sampling of 180 procuring entities. Meanwhile, we found out that 71.6 percent of bidders were related to government officials,” said GPPB-TSO officer-in-charge Maria Dionesia Rivera-Guillermo.
In line with the NGPA, beneficial ownership information is now a required eligibility document for companies seeking a PhilGEPS Platinum registration with the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) of the Procurement Service–DBM (PS-DBM), which is mandatory for all bidders.
PS-DBM executive director Genmaries Entredicho-Caong said that as of Monday, only 6,766 out of 12,769 PhilGEPS Platinum-registered corporations for this year had submitted their beneficial ownership documents.
Non-submission automatically suspends a company’s platinum registration.
The new rule, consistent with the NGPA’s implementing rules and regulations approved by the GPPB on Feb. 4, 2025, ensures that only bidders with declared beneficial owners—who must have no conflict of interest with the procuring entity or other participating bidders—can participate in government bidding.
