GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The national government has sought for the mainstreaming of open and participatory governance initiatives among local government units (LGUs) as it moves to ensure better transparency and accountability.
Speaking at the second leg of the Open Government and Participatory Governance Regional Dialogues-Mindanao Cluster 2 here on Tuesday, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said it was important for LGUs to institutionalize such systems to ensure that “no one is left behind” in the country’s development.
“We’re going down right now to the LGUs and engaging with local officials so we can effectively localize open and participatory governance,” he said.
Diokno acknowledged that some LGUs had long been practicing good governance initiatives but noted that these should be done in a more systematic way.
Citing President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s instructions, he said local governments should always listen to their constituents so they could craft programs that would properly benefit them.
“Coming from Mindanao and from his decades-long local government experience, the President knows what it is like to be set aside, to call for help only to be left unanswered – he knows what it is like to be left behind,” he said.
The regional dialogues here, which was the first in Mindanao, was joined by local government leaders as well as officials and representatives from various government agencies, civil society, academe, business and other key sectors.
It was organized by the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Finance, United States Agency for International Development, Caucus of Development NGO Networks and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The activity is part of the government’s efforts to promote the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and initiatives under the cabinet’s good governance cluster.
The results of the dialogues, which will cover four more areas in the country, will form part of the open governance roadmap being crafted by key government stakeholders.
OGP is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
The Philippines is among the eight founding members of the partnership, which currently involves 75 countries.
Diokno reiterated that the national government remained committed to the partnership and in efforts to sustain transparency and openness in governance.
“The people should know what we’re doing and always consult them so we will also know what their needs are,” he said.
He said the Philippines had been making “great progress” and already gained international recognition for openness in governance.
The country was now number one in Asia and number 19 among OGP countries overall in budget transparency, he said.
Diokno said the government, especially the President, knew that “working with the people is imperative” to ensure that the promise of real change would be felt largely by Filipinos all over the world.
Given the “sheer extent of corruption and red tape in the bureaucracy,” he said they were aware that “changing how government works would not be possible without the effective mobilization of the civil society and sustained demand from the public – from the very citizens that we are held accountable to.”
“We are making sure that governance is not limited to government alone. We open up government, provide the citizens a seat in the policy table, and give them a legitimate say and vote in what the government does and plans to do in moving forward,” he added. (PNA)
