“The citizen can bring our political and governmental institutions back to life, make them responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. No one else can.”
John W. Gardner, US Secretary of Health and Education, 1965-68 |
Prof. Boncodin, in one of the forums she had appeared in to help people understand the the national budget and what people could do to protect it from corruption and wastage.
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The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project and the Pera Natin ‘To! website are made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this website and the views expressed herein are solely the responsibility of the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project and the individual authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government or the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative.
RSS Syndicator
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GOCCs’ Law-Breaking Isn’t News |
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Tuesday, 31 August 2010 |
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It is good to see action finally being taken against government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) found to be breaking the law. But as we first reported here in March as our project website was publicly launched, information showing a blatant and seemingly endemic disregard for the law among some GOCC trustees and others has been freely available for several years –for anybody willing to look for it.
When our website was launched in March 23, we published the fact that at least six GOCCs were in violation of the General Appropriations Act. We got that information simply through a careful reading of a Commission on Audit report –one of many reports we looked into as part of our examination of official oversight and monitoring of public (read government) spending.
The information was contained in the Report entitled “Discretionary, Extraordinary and Miscellaneous Expenses by Selected GOCCs and Local Government Units (Report No 2007-5)” and you can read more about what we found out here.
But what we found out was simply that COA was already flagging that all these six companies – including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System; the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office were breaking the law through their extravagant expense payments.
COA wrote to the then head of the Department of Budget Management Rolando Andaya asking what he intended to do in the light of this –and we publicly asked him to explain what changes he had made since the COA report came out.
We heard nothing back.
But more importantly, it seems things have only started happening on the whole issue of GOCCs breaking the law because certain people in the new administration took it upon themselves to act. COA performed its public duty – but had no teeth to enforce its findings – but the media could and should have been using the COA report to expose such illegalities in the first place.
The lesson then is not to rely on a new administration and a new broom to do what is part of the daily grind of the media. Over the past few weeks we have had several national media organizations and TV programs come to us with questions about what we found out about GOCC operations -but again, all we did was to carefully look through the COA reports.
It is very good that there is a current wave of transparency and accountability running through the government. But if or when that wave passes, independent and objective monitoring and reporting has to remain. Sometimes you need to dig around for information a little – but it is there.
Alan Davis
Director, Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project
Head of Asia Programming, Institute for War and Peace Reporting
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PROJECT NEWS
 PPTRP holds 10th budget reporting training in Bohol June 30
The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) held its 10th training on advanced transparency and anti-corruption reporting called “Numeracy for Journalists, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens” on June 30 at the JJ’s Seafood Village in Tagbilaran City in Bohol. READ MORE
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 PPTRP-supported Local Transparency Groups Share Experiences in Reporting, Fighting Corruption
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 PPTRP holds 6th budget transparency reporting in Dipolog City May 23
The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) held its 6th training on advanced transparency and anti-corruption reporting called “Numeracy for Journalists, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens” on May 23 at the Top Plaza Hotel in Dipolog City. READ MORE
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 PPTRP meets with editors and columnists May 18 to discuss media coverage of public corruption
The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project met with editors and columnists of selected national and international media organizations May 18 in Manila to discuss current media behavior and thinking in relation to public corruption and transparency. READ MORE
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 PPTRP meets NBN ZTE scam whistle blower Rodolfo Lozada May 9
Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, the former CEO of the Philippine Forest Corporation who later disclosed explosive information on the anomalous USD 329 million NBN-ZTE deal that nearly brought down the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, shared his views May 9 with the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project on continuing the fight against corruption and for genuine transparency under the new administration. READ MORE
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 PPTRP holds 5th budget reporting training in Ozamiz City April 26
The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project held its fifth training on advanced transparency and anti-corruption reporting called “Numeracy for Journalists, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens” on April 26 at the Naomi’s Botanical Gardens in Ozamiz City. READ MORE
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 PPTRP holds 4th training on budget reporting in CDO April 2
The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) held its fourth training on advanced transparency and anti-corruption reporting called “Numeracy for Journalists, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens” on April 2 in Cagayan de Oro City. READ MORE
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