PRESS RELEASE
29 September 2026
OMB gets direct PhilGEPS access under data-sharing pact with PS-DBM
Manila, Philippines – The Office of the Ombudsman will gain direct, read-only access to government procurement records on the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) under a Data Sharing Agreement with the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).
The agreement, signed Tuesday, September 29, will allow authorized Ombudsman personnel to directly examine procurement records—from planning documents to implementation records—as part of the Office’s investigation, prosecution and corruption prevention efforts.
“Until now, when an Ombudsman investigator needed procurement records, whether a bid notice, a notice of award, a contract, or a supplier’s registration documents, we had to write a letter. Then we waited. Sometimes the wait was days. Sometimes it was weeks. And in an investigation, time matters,” Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said during the signing ceremony in Manila.
Under the agreement, authorized Ombudsman personnel will be able to access information on registered suppliers, documents submitted by bidders and the beneficial owners behind corporate bidders.
“What used to take weeks of correspondence can now be done in an afternoon,” OMB Remulla said.
The Ombudsman said faster access to procurement information would also make it easier for investigators to identify connections and patterns that may indicate attempts to circumvent procurement rules.
He cited schemes involving contractors bidding under different company names, officials splitting contracts to avoid public bidding, and networks of dummy corporations linked to the same individuals.
“These schemes depend on distance, on the assumption that no one will connect the dots,” OMB Remulla said.
“Kapag nakikita ng Ombudsman ang buong rekord ng procurement, lumilitaw ang mga ugnayan. Ang parehong mga pangalan, ang parehong mga address, ang parehong mga padron. Kumokonti ang mga lugar na mapagtataguan,” the Ombudsman added.
OMB Remulla said the agreement is expected to serve not only as an investigative tool but also as a deterrent against attempts to manipulate the government procurement system.
“To anyone who still thinks our procurement system can be gamed: understand that the Ombudsman is now looking at the same data you are submitting. Every document you upload to PhilGEPS is a document we can read. Act accordingly,” he said.
The Ombudsman stressed, however, that access to procurement information will be strictly controlled and cannot be used for indiscriminate inquiries.
Access will be role-based, limited to authorized personnel, logged and monitored, and governed by the Data Privacy Act and rules of the National Privacy Commission. Information obtained under the agreement will be used only for investigation, prosecution, and corruption prevention.
“The Ombudsman asks transparency of others. We hold ourselves to the same standard,” OMB Remulla said.
The agreement also establishes a two-way arrangement, with the Ombudsman providing PS-DBM feedback on inconsistencies detected in procurement data, potential improvements to the system, and areas where procurement rules may be exploited.
“We do not want only to catch wrongdoing after the fact. We want to help build a procurement system where wrongdoing is harder to commit in the first place,” OMB Remulla said.
OMB Remulla also called for greater information-sharing among government agencies, saying transparency should become part of government’s normal operations rather than an exceptional measure.
“For too long, government has treated information as something to be guarded rather than shared,” he said. “Corruption thrives in the gaps between agencies. It thrives when one hand does not know what the other hand is signing.”
“Transparency should not be an event we celebrate with a ceremony. It should be the ordinary way government works, every day, without anyone having to ask,” he added.
The Ombudsman said the agreement could pave the way for further integration, including possible API integration and deeper system linkages between the two agencies.
“Let us not let this be the last step. Let us make data-sharing between agencies the norm, not the exception,” OMB Remulla said. “The Filipino people have waited long enough for a government that does not hide from them. Let us give them one.”#
