CORRUPTION will be a key factor as the World Bank considers a fresh three-year lending program for the Philippines worth up to $3 billion, the multilateral lender said Friday.

The aid program “puts greater emphasis on poverty alleviation and good governance” through a “stable macro economy, improved investment climate, better public service delivery, and reduced vulnerabilities,” the Bank said in a statement.

Manila drew up a list of projects for which World Bank financing is needed during consultations with the lender that began in June last year.

The meetings were held amid a corruption scandal in which the World Bank canceled a $33-million road improvement project and blacklisted several Chinese, Philippine and South Korean firms it said had colluded in the tender.

That sparked calls by senators for the Ombudsman to resign for failing to prosecute officials allegedly in league with the public works cartel.

One of the proposed aid package’s objectives was installing governance and anti-corruption safeguards, particularly in procurement, as well as reforming management of public finances, the Bank said.

The new lending program covers the years 2009 to 2012, and it will be discussed by the Bank’s board in April. The amount to be lent would be $700 million to $1 billion a year.

The Bank’s new lending program indicated its full support of the Philippines’ development agenda, said Rolando Tungpalan, Deputy Director General of the National Economic Development Authority. Tungpalan led the government team in its meeting with the multilateral lending agency.

Country director Bert Hofman said the World Bank’s new strategy aimed to help the government make growth work for the poor.

“In times of uncertainties like the current global financial crisis, inclusive growth calls for greater social protection for the poorest of the poor to help them cope with economic shocks,” Hofman said. AFP, with Roderick T. dela Cruz