Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc.

Kaangayan, Kalambuan, Kalinaw ... sa Mindanaw, sa Pilipinas, sa Kalibutan

CSOs play vital role in ensuring transparency and accountability in governance
By Bong Fabe
Posted 25 August 2010

	DILG-10 Regional Director Loreto Bhagwani. Photo: Bong Fabe

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — To ensure accountability and transparency in all local government units, civil society organizations (CSOs) must get involved in governance, according to the regional director of the Department of Interior and Local Government in Northern Mindanao (DILG-10).

“The wish of the Secretary (Jesse Robredo), in line with the vision of the President, is transparency and accountability in governance (TAG). But this cannot be done by us (in government) alone. This can be done with the involvement of others in the civil society organizations,” stressed Dir. Loreto Bhagwani.

CSOs are stakeholders who play a very big role in ensuring that President Noynoy Aquino deliver his campaign promise of ensuring change in government, Bhagwani told participants to the recent Budget Tracking For Transparent, Accountable Governance in Mindanao (BTTAG) Project Orientation and CSO Training Workshop held at the International Center for Peace (IC Peace) in Mindanao of the Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc. (BMFI).

“NGOs [non-government organizations], POs [people’s organizations], etc., together with the corresponding [government] agencies, in the process must work together for a better society that caters to the needs of the community pursuant to Section 16 of the Local Government Code, which is the Delivery of Basic Services,” he said.

Bhagwani said that while it is incumbent upon those who rule to deliver basic services to the governed, the “bigger bulk of the responsibility is with the civil society, with the community where these things are happening.”

He said that according to the Local Government Code, at least 25 percent of the members of various local government councils must come from the CSOs (NGOs, POs, etc.) and “this must now be reflected in the actual presence of these people, not just in figures.”

Cynthia Abanil, provincial planning and development officer of Misamis Oriental. Photo: Bong Fabe

According to Bhagwani, the BTTAG training workshop will help those in the CSOs learn how to track down budgetary allocation and spending of local governments.

He said this is very important because according to the law, no local government must spend money without the authority from the Sanggunian.

“But some people spend without authority. Now is the time for them to be held accountable for all these spending,” he stressed.

The BTTAG training-workshop, according to Cynthia Abanil, provincial planning and development officer of Misamis Oriental, “brings in the participation of CSOs in governance. This is a long journey and we are taking a small step with this workshop towards our goal even if we don’t see significant changes during our lifetime.”

“The link between planning and budgeting to expenditure management and back again to planning should really be operationalized. The pressure should come from the civil society,” she stressed.

Abanil, who represented Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno in the training-workshop, said that it is the dream of every Filipino for the leaders in government to be examples of good governance.

“Good governance will not happen even though those governing are doing their job if those who are governed are not doing their job as well. Civil society organizations play a very important role in good governance,” she stressed.

Bhagwani said that budget tracking is “one of the very pronounced platform of the new administration, which is also very well supported by the Department of Interior and Local Government.”

He said that laws instituting transparency in all government transactions have long been passed, but it is very unfortunate that only very few local government chief executives and officers implement them and only very few people from the civil society care for their implementation.

“It’s in the [Local Government] Code that the income and expenses of local governments must be posted in a conspicuous part of the city, provincial and municipal halls. It is there but it’s not being done. It is not being complied with,” he said.

	BTTAG project manager Paul Richard A. Paraguya. Photo: Bong Fabe

According to RA 9485 (Anti-Red Tape Law), all LGUs, as part of their transparency program, “must establish, must publish in very conspicuous places in the respective LGUs a system where a transacting public can do and go without need of a fixer.”

“Dapat naay graph or diagram or chart nga magtudlo sa mga tao unsay dapat himoon ug where to go kung mo-transact sa gobyerno [There must be a graph or diagram or chart that will direct people what they need to do and where to go when transacting business with government]. These are required under that law,” he said.

Bhagwani, however, said that this particular law is 97 percent complied with in LGUs in Region X.

He also narrated that during their meeting in Manila on July 16, Secretary Robredo “told us to ensure that LGUs and government agencies partner with NGAs [non-government agencies] and NGOs to strengthen transparency and accountability and stakeholdership.”

Paul Richard A. Paraguya, BTTAG project manager, said the project, which is being done in partnership with BMFI, The Asia Foundation and USAID, is “not a budget watch.”

“We are not here to watch the LGUs. We are here for a journey—to improve transparency and accountability and institute policy advocacy,” he said.