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TAN-PAGC-PCEG-OMB:
“CRAFTING THE NATIONAL TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY AGENDA”
Last February 13, a focus
group discussion was held on the Department of Health’s Transparency &
Accountability Agenda at the Traders Hotel.
DOH was
represented by Usec. Margarita Galon, Director Agnette Peralta and
Director Carolina Herradura. Other government representatives were from
the following offices: Presidential Committee on Effective Governance,
Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, Development Academy of the
Philippines, Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Audit, UP College of
Medicine. Civil society organizations represented during the FGD
included the Ateneo School of Government, Philippine Governance Forum,
The Asia Foundation, The Zuellig Foundation, Metrobank Foundation,
Institute of Public Health Management, Unified GTZ Support to the
Philippine Health Sector, and the Philippine Non-Government Organization
Council on Population Health and Welfare.
The highlights
of the discussion are:
1. Creation of
a central office that will monitor prices of drugs across regions
2. Impose sanctions on huge price differentials (e.g. blacklisting of
suppliers)
3. Tapping of NGOs to monitor
4. Inform the public about the price of medicines
5. Outsourcing of procurement
6. Creation of a mechanism for reporting complaints (perhaps direct to
the Secretary)
7. Policy on pricing extending to regional offices
8. DOH must spot-check hospitals
On the other
hand, The fourth focused group discussion with Bureau of Customs last
February 18, 2003 held at the Manila Peninsula basically, has been a
review of the issues and commitments from the previous meeting. An
update though was given about the committee created for the review of
the Customs Memorandum Orders (CMOs) and Customs Administrative Orders (CAOs).
Mr. Clemente San Agustin of the Phil Export Confederation and Mr. Aaron
Redubla of BOC, both as representatives of the committee presented their
objectives and workplan.
One of their objective is to identify the CMOs and CAOs whether they
remain in effect, to be modified, or no longer applicable. Another is to
come up with an organized index for use of Customs stakeholders for
business with the BOC. This will cover CMOs and CAOs issued from
February 2003 downwards. This will be done through the following
workplan:
1. The BOC
will be divided into five groups: assessment and operations group,
revenue collection monitoring group, intelligence and enforcement group,
internal administration group, and a computer department.
2. CMOs and CAOs will be assigned to each group. These groups will give
an assessment after, whether these orders are to remain in effect, to be
changed, or useless.
3. These groups will also come up afterwards with organized index to be
used for business transactions with the agency.
Then followed
the FGD for the Department of Education held last March 3 at the Manila
Galleria Suites.
Civil society
participants included representatives from the Ateneo School of
Government, Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs,
Philippine Governance Forum, Procurement Watch, Inc., The Asia
Foundation, Konsensyang Pilipino, Fellowship of Christians in
Government, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and Concerned
Women of the Philippines. Government representatives were from the
following offices: Governance Advisory Council, Presidential Committee
on Effective Governance, Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, Office of
the Ombudsman, Development Academy of the Philippines and the University
of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and
Governance. It’s sad to note, though, that the Department of Education
was not represented.
Nevertheless,
the DepEd plan had been submitted to civil society and government
participants for critiquing.
The main
points raised by the group in improving the DepEd anti-corruption plan
are as follows:
1. A more
detailed discussion of the processes involved in a) hiring teachers, b)
procurement, c) disposition of administrative cases and d) school
titling;
2. Additional areas for reform suggested were the areas of : a)
Promotions, b) Internal Loans, c) Horse-trading during budget hearings
and d) Evaluation of teachers’ performances;
3. Invitation of school teachers and suppliers as clients of and major
actors in the Department of Education for an FGD that will focus on
first-hand experiences in corruption in the Department.
Those
related to the Hiring of Teachers:
1.
Establishment of a Screening Committee that will make the final and
executory decisions regarding hiring and selection of teachers. The
Screening Committee shall be composed of representatives from the
Commission on Audit, Civil Service Commission, Office of the Ombudsman
and an NGO representative;
2. A need to review the Merit Selection Plan of the Department
3. The evaluation instrument should be further improved by limiting the
discretion of the evaluator;
4. There should be a grievance mechanism for teachers to submit their
complaints, should there be any, regarding hiring;
5. Openings or vacancies should be advertised sufficiently;
6. Use of new technology in the procurement of manpower (or hiring);
7. Educate teachers on their rights;
8. Additional consideration/requirement for hiring – moral quality;
Those
related to Procurement:
1.
Record-keeping in delivery of textbooks should be monitored;
2. Delivery of books up to the level of students should be monitored
also;
3. IRR of GPRA should be mechanized within the Department
4. Information on delivery details (e.g. number of books, schedules)
should be made known to the principals;
5. System of payment to suppliers should also be checked.
Disposition of Administrative Cases:
1. Details on
review power;
2. Office of the Ombudsman can monitor the implementation of decisions
made;
3. Appointees should be educated on their accountability to the
Department rather than their accountability to the President;
4. Educate people on how to file cases.
School
Titling:
1. What were
the loopholes identified by the Department?
The FGD ended
with hope that a more fruitful FGD with the Department of Education will
follow to the end of formulating a more concrete and responsive action
plan. The next FGD with DepEd is tentatively set on March 25.
A most recent
development had been the release of a memorandum from the Office of
Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, enjoining the heads of DAR, DILG,
DPWH, DENR, DOTC and NLRC to participate in this activity.
LSIG
TAX AUTHORITY REFORM FORUM
The La Salle
Institute of Governance (LSIG), through the sponsorship of The Asia
Foundation and the Philippine Governance Forum/Transparency and
Accountability Network, organized the “Citizen Workshop on Tax Authority
Reform” conducted last February 21.
The forum was
attended by advocates of tax authority reform headed by Manuel Estela
Benavides, former Chief Superintendent of Peru’s National Tax Authority,
Cong. Joel Villanueva (CIBAC) and DOF Undersecretary Cornelio Gison. The
forum successfully gathered organizations from different sectors of
society – youth and students, civil society, government, business and
media organizations.
From the
presentations made by the invited resource persons, the participants
were clustered according to the following workshop groups – media,
private, academe/research institutions, youth, government, and NGO –
through which, specific action plans have been crafted in support of the
immediate passage of a responsive NRA.
The forum was
able to expand the constituency of the NRA bill leading to the creation
of an e-based support group (supportNARA@yahoogroups.com).
GPRA
IRR CONSULTATIVE WORKSHOP
With the
Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) finally signed by the President
into law last January 10, the next critical step had been the
formulation of the Implementing Rules and Regulations.
Procurement
Watch, Inc. (PWI), being in the forefronts of procurement reforms
institutionalization, organized a consultative workshop with civil
society organizations last February 11 to get inputs on the development
of an effective IRR.
Three workshop
clusters have been formed – goods, consultancy services and
infrastructure. The workshops provided venues for the civil society
groups to submit their proposals and suggestions in further improving
and strengthening the IRR of the GPRA, cognizant of the fact that it
will supersede all other existing laws, executive orders, administrative
orders and memorandum circulars related to procurement.
“BANTAY-AKLAT”:
MONITORING DEPED’S DELIVERY OF TEXTBOOKS 2003
TAN,
Government Watch (G-Watch), Procurement Watch, Inc. (PWI), National
Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), The Asia Foundation (TAF)
and the Caucus of Development NGOs (CODE-NGO) met on March 6 to discuss
the possibility of undertaking a joint monitoring of the Department of
Education’s nationwide textbook delivery.
Last month,
DepEd invited these same groups to a meeting/briefing, where the idea of
collaborative monitoring work was first brought up by DepEd. The
feedback from the different organizations on the openness of the
Department for civil society participation in the delivery process had
been positive and to which resulted in further discussions on the
operationalization of the partnership between DepEd and the
aforementioned organizations.
The March 6
meeting had resulted in an initial design of the monitoring methodology
based on the G-Watch tool and experience. G-Watch is tasked to further
refine the local monitoring tool with the inputs of the group.
MAKING
THE RIGHT CHOICE:
VOTERS’ EDUCATION FOR YOUNG CITIZENS
On 22 February
2003, the La Salle Institute of Governance, the Civic Education Network
and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung organized a workshop-forum entitled
Making the Right Choice: Voters’ Education for Young Citizens. The
activity had three main objectives: first, to educate young citizens or
first time voters about the value of enlightened voting; second, to
encourage them to conduct their own voters’ education programs and
activities; and third, to formally introduce the Civic Education Network
to stakeholders who work in the arena of electoral participation,
education, reform, and active citizenship. Those objectives were hinged
on the Network’s belief that a free, fair, and competitive electoral
system depends largely on voters who have civic virtues, skills, and
dispositions.
Four speakers
were invited to the workshop. Senator Loren Legarda gave the keynote
speech, zeroing in on the role of the youth in shaping Philippine
politics and governance. Diego Cagahastian, Director for Education of
the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), talked about the role of the
youth in the 2004 elections as well as the COMELEC’s efforts in ensuring
free and honest elections. Telibert Laoc, Executive Director of the
National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) and Bro. Clifford Sorita,
Secretary General of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting
(PPCRV) presented a landscape of their organizations’ voters’ education
programs. De La Salle University President Bro. Rolando Dizon, FSC, and
Beate Martin, Resident Representative of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
provided the opening remarks.
There were
more than 200 participants coming from various schools, universities,
youth and student groups, government, and civil society/civic
organizations. During the workshop, these participants came up with
concrete action plans detailing how they intend to provide electoral
education to other young voters and various sectors of the society
including urban and rural poor, farmers, and fisherfolks. As an outcome
of the workshop, a core group of young citizen leaders were chosen by
their co-participants to represent them in planning meetings of upcoming
voters’ education activities of the Network.
The Civic
Education Network is a coalition of civil society and academic
institutions that agree on pursuing good citizenship programs through
research, training, and advocacy. La Salle Institute of Governance, a
research and training institute under the De La Salle University System
is the convener of the Network.
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