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DEPED
HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE FOR TEXTBOOK COUNT PROJECT
On July 10, the Department of Education called a press conference for
the formal launching of the “TextBook Count” project. The NGO partners
that graced the occasion were the TAN OpTeam, Procurement Watch Inc.,
The Asia Foundation, Konsensyang Pilipino, Philippine Governance Forum
(Government Watch, Budget Advocacy Project) and National Movement for
Free Elections.
This was an
opportunity for the Department heads – Sec. Edilberto De Jesus, Usec.
Mike Luz and Usec. Ramon Bacani – to announce the project’s intended
accomplishments:
1. To reach a
1:1 student-book ratio (except for English and Filipino III for failure
of bidding and;
2. To complete the project cycle (bidding to payment) within a 12-month
period – a first if ever in the history of the department
The
Department used several social marketing strategies to promote the
project and to encourage wide civic participation in monitoring the
timely delivery of the correct number and titles of books to the
district and high school levels. Posters were printed which contained
information on the delivery schedules for each region/division. Print
ads shown in various newspapers were also availed. “Radio ads” were
prepared for play in various local radio stations. “Textbook Count
Project” shirts were also distributed during the press conference.
***For
those who are still interested to volunteer for the monitoring of
textbook deliveries, please contact Mr. Don Don Parafina or Ms. Aileen
Leycano (Government Watch) at 899-4588.
CIVIL SOCIETY PARTNERS ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN MONITORING DEPED TEXTBOOKS
Beginning June 3, the DepEd NGO partners (G-Watch, TAN OpTeam, KP,
NAMFREL, CODE NGO) started their rounds of monitoring work by visiting
the printing offices of the textbook contractors. The purpose of this
pre-delivery monitoring was to ensure that the books to be delivered
were free from printing defects by recommending corrective actions to
the concerned printing office.
Prior these
visits, the partners acquired basic technical skills in looking for
printing defects. The training was provided by DepEd.
In all occasions of monitoring visits to the printing offices, civil
society was properly represented by the NGO partners. In this joint
activity, perhaps the most serious finding was the 100,000 textbooks
found to have very weak binding. These books had to be repaired by the
publisher before delivery can be made.
WHAT NEXT AFTER CRAFTING THE AGENCY ANTI-CORRUPTION PLANS?
Last July 11,
TAN-PAGC-PCEG-OMB gathered again for the evaluation of the agency
anti-corruption plans.
As of July 12,
only 5 agencies submitted their anti-corruption plans to PAGC. The same
have been submitted by PAGC to the Office of the President for inclusion
in the SONA.
In the
deliberations of the Convenors group, the next steps planned to be taken
are:
- Drafting of
a Memorandum of Agreement with the Agencies (Strict Implementation;
Civil Society Monitoring)
- Development of a Monitoring Mechanism/Tool and Strategy
- Website posting of plans (www.tan.org.ph and www.tag.org.ph)
TAN has been identified as one of the potential monitors who will ensure
the implementation of the commitments, along with the Junior Graft-Watch
Units and the Philippine Government Employees Association.
TAN JOINS K1230 IN ASSESSING GMA’S 6-MONTH TRACK
Last July 12, the K1230 Movement gathered various civil society groups
to re-assess the President’s accomplishments for the past 6 months
vis-à-vis her SONA commitments in 2002.
Top government
officials – Sec. Dinky Soliman, Sec. Mai Jimenez, Sec. Manuel Dayrit,
Comm. Guillermo Parayno, Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo, Comm. Tess Baltazar
among others – attended the assembly as resource persons on the
President’s accomplishments.
The main
speaker for the government was Sec. Jimenez, as overall coordinator of
the President’s programs. After Sec. Jimenez’s presentation, the
assessment of K1230 followed which in summary was:
There is a lack of strong leadership in pushing for the reforms in the
following areas among others:
- BIR Reforms (no activity for the NARA bill)
- Peace process
- Anti-corruption
After the general presentations, workshops were conducted according to
reform areas. TAN and the La Salle Institute of Governance were the
designated lead organizations for the workshop groups on Anti-Corruption
and BIR Reforms respectively. The lead discussants were Mr. Vincent
Lazatin and Dr. Francisco Magno.
DENR-LAMP SEEKS TAN’S SUPPORT
The TAN Operations Team together with TAN members Kristina Pimentel of
Procurement Watch, Inc, Andie Lasala of Konsensyang Pilipino, and Mr.
Edward Gacusana of the Makati Business Club met with the consultants of
the Land Administration Management Project of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources last June 19 at the Sulo Hotel in
Quezon City.
The Land Administration Management project aims to improve the land
administration system in the country. It is a project of the Philippine
government which is funded by the World Bank and the Australian Agency
for International Development.
In the
previous studies conducted regarding land administration, the government
lost more than P100 billion from 1991-2000 in the real estate sector
because of the low revenue generation from land taxes. Also, major
problems were identified concerning the present land administration
system and administration such as the:
- Conflict
between laws regulating the system and its administration;
- Two processes for titling land (administrative and judicial
processes);
- Multiple forms of ownership rights in land;
- Multiple property taxes and related disincentives to formalization of
land transactions;
- Multiple land valuation methods; and
- Significant duplication and overlap in the roles, functions and
activities of the key land administration agencies
The proposed solution is to have a land administration reform through:
- Efficient survey and mapping of land
- Efficient first-time titling of alienable and disposable land
- Efficient registration of land titles and title transfer
- Efficient public land management
The first step towards this solution is through the passing of the Land
Administration Reform Act of 2003 (house Bill No. 6070/ Senate Bills No.
2592 and 2593). These bills which were filed in Congress on June 2, 2003
by Congressmen Gonzales II and Escudero and on June 4, 2003 by Senators
Jaworski and Angara respectively, will institutionalize reforms in the
land administration through:
- An efficient and effective land administration system,and
- The creation of a single Land Administration Authority
The DENR seeks TAN support in this project through the
following:
- Sponsoring a
forum on land administration reform
- Signing a manifesto of support for the LAA Bill
- Referring the issue to the media contacts of the network
- Attending their media fora
- Inclusion of the LAMP issue in TAN meetings and assemblies
- Helping distribute information materials on LAMP and other references
TAN EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
REVISITS THE PAST TWO YEARS
The
Transparency and Accountability Network held its whole day Strategic
Planning session last June 20 at the Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo.
Part of the
discussion was the network assessment during the past two years,
together with the evaluation of the organization’s current situation:
The TAN membership, the Operations Team, Fundings, barriers as well as
organizational threats, and other important matters. Also discussed were
the answers to the questions such as:
(a) where is
TAN now,
(b) What TAN would want to achieve in the future
(c) How does TAN bridge the gap between now and its future plans
Below are some of the services envisioned by TAN:
-
Providing
research base for all TAN members
-
Doing
research work for internal purposes and for corporations
-
Continue
being a venue for sharing of information on transparency and
accountability initiatives, as well as a venue for dialogues with
various stakeholders and power holders
-
Providing
technical assistance
-
Providing
tools on how to measure corruption
-
Training
citizens to participate in monitoring bodies
-
Providing
information on in depth analysis against graft and corruption
-
Creating
well informed, technically rigorous policy proposals
The activity
was attended by Dean Henedina Razon-Abad, Fr. Jose Cecilio Magadia S.J.,
Dr. Segundo Romero, Mr. Vincent Lazatin, Dr. Steven Rood, Dr. Francisco
Magno, as well as by the TAN Operations Team. The whole session was
facilitated by Mr. Alfredo Diaz, Jr. |
