GENERAL SANTOS CITY — South Cotabato province has fully complied with the government’s full disclosure policy in all its operations and transactions.
South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes said Monday the local government posted a 100-percent compliance rate to the policy based on assessments made by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
She said they have made available to the public all financial transactions and procurement reports through the province’s official website and other government portals that are specifically set to determine the extent of the implementation of e-Governance as a practice of transparency.
The full disclosure policy is a government mandate implemented through the DILG to ensure transparency and accountability among local government units.
“This is an important platform for our integrity program,” the governor said.
She was referring to the South Cotabato for Integrity and Jobs program or i-South Cotabato, an initiative that promotes transparency in governance, specifically on small business and investment registration and promotion procedures, through civil society cooperation in the province.
The program, which started in 2014, is an offshoot of the province’s selection as one of the pilot implementers of the Project I4J or Partnerships for Integrity and Job Creation supported by Germany’s Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.
Based on the DILG’s assessment, the province has institutionalized the posting of annual budget reports, annual procurement plan or list, special education fund income, expenditure estimates and other important documents at the public bulletin board and at the official website of the provincial government.
“Reforming the public sector is not a walk in the park. But we’re fully committed to achieve that by strengthening further the role of the civil society and media as watchdogs of the local government’s performance,” Fuentes said.
In line with this, the provincial government developed three new automated systems to further improve transparency as well as fast track transactions in its offices.
These are the payroll system for job orders, fund control system of the Provincial Accounting Office, and laboratory information system of the Integrated Provincial Health Office.
The information technology unit of the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) has mainstreamed these past years 13 automated systems on the local government’s operations and service delivery.
Jennifer Bretaña, the PPDO chief, said their team will introduce later this year a queuing and customer feedback system for primary frontline offices like the Provincial Social and Development Office (PSDO), the Governor’s Office, and the Out-Patient Department of the Provincial Hospital. (Anna liza Cabrido/PNA)
