Transparency and Accountability Network

The Right to Know. Right Now! Coalition welcomes the recent public endorsement by President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III of the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) law and the release of the executive’s final proposed bill. 

The President’s endorsement achieves two things: it removes the main reason why the bill has been stalled in the legislative wringer, particularly at the House of Representatives, and 2. it resolves the “concerns” about the bill that the President has expressed, thereby reducing the danger of a Presidential veto.

Yet most important of all, the endorsement reaffirms the Aquino administration’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and good governance, and clears the way for the long-overdue passage of the FOI law as part of the larger struggle to advance our human right to information.

The Transparency and Accountability Network is currently looking for a Senior and Junior Training Specialist for its Localizing Procurement Reform project. For more information, click here.

These posts are project-based and the assignment will focus on “Improving the Quality and Responsiveness of Public Spending in Poor Communities though Localized Procurement Reform” project under the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) of the World Bank.  The Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN) and the Government Procurement Policy Board Technical Support Office (GPPB-TSO) are the implementing agencies for this project.

This JSDF Funded project aims to further enhance the impacts of participatory approaches by promoting the participation of volunteers from poor communities in the regular activities of barangay and municipal bids and awards committees. Drawing on the transparency provisions of the procurement law, the grant will support the institutionalization of the participatory procurement processes supported by the KALAHI and other local development projects. Community members and local CSOs are expected to be involved in key elements of procurement processes, e.g, public biddings, canvassing, bid award, contract monitoring, reporting, and oversight. The development of an enabling partnership between the community members/CSOs and the local government units for procurement reform is the key innovative feature of this project. Whereas many of the current relationships related to procurement or local governance often operate in an environment of mistrust, the project aims to demonstrate that it is mutually beneficial to have more productive engagements between LGUs and citizens. The partnership on procurement supported by this project is considered as an entry point that would make the partnership arrangement between government and civil society more mutually beneficial, especially for poor communities.