The Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991 paved the way for greater local autonomy in an effort to bring government closer to the doorsteps of the people. As local governments take on greater roles in the provision of public services, they require greater resources and the means to generate these. At the same time, greater decentralization brings with it the need to strengthen mechanisms for transparency and accountability in local government budgeting and spending.

Located in the central part of the country’s Bicol region, Naga City in Camarines Sur lacks viable industries and abundant natural resources. But these deficiencies are compensated by a participatory and accountable system of local government that makes people here count their blessings.

Is it right or ethical for public funds to be channeled into a program that seems to be named after the new governor of Negros Oriental – or is this a very blatant example of political patronage designed to help him stay in power?

Degamo’s rise to Capitol

Roel Ragay Degamo, a native of Siaton town, became governor of Negros Oriental not by election but through legal succession following the deaths of the two top officials elected in the May 2010 national and local elections.

In that same election, Degamo was re-elected as one of the three members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Council) representing the 3rd District of the province.

A public-spirited citizen from Samar has just sent us in a series of photos and a complaint that government officials there appear to be in clear breach of a circular from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) banning the use of “names or initials and/or images or pictures of government officials in billboards and signages of government programs and projects.”

KIDAPAWAN CITY – People here are beginning to question exactly how the city government actually spent an estimated PhP 77 million (USD 1.83 million) which different government agencies reportedly channeled to the city.

According to Kidapawan City Councilor Lauro Taynan Jr., the sum was reportedly transferred to the city government coffers between 2008 and 2009.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the Sangguniang Panglunsod (SP or City Council), councilor Tayman said the city’s chief executive and some departmental heads who would have had a direct hand in the planning and implementation of different nationally funded infrastructure projects, should be made to appear before the SP and say how the money was actually spent.

The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) held a roundtable discussion January 25 in Davao City on the state of transparency and accountability in the province of Maguindanao more than a year after the infamous massacre that claimed the lives of 58 people and provided image of lack of rule of law, transparency and accountability in the Philippines to the world.

The roundtable “Maguindanao after 11.23: Building Accountability and Transparency”, held at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao City, featured as main panelists Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu; Maj. Gen. Anthony Alcantara, chief of the 6th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army; Fr. Alberto Alejo, lead convenor of the Ehem-Aha Anti-Corruption Project; and Alan Davis, PPTRP director and IWPR Head of Asia. Catherine Comandante, deputy operations director of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, provided the welcome remarks.
 
Davis said “the key thing is that we must all come together to press for accountability and transparency. It is not just the responsibility of the governor but everybody must take part.”

The Watchful Advocates for Transparent, Clean and Honest Governance in Kidapawan (WATCH Kidapawan) led several campaigns between August and September to demand for more transparency and accountability in government projects, including the delivery of heavy infrastructure equipment worth PhP 45 million (USD 1 million) and the unimplemented PhP 5.9 million (USD 134,090) waste water treatment facility.

The Multisectoral Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA-Samar) convened October 10 at Tony’s Kitchen in Catbalogan City to lay down plans for this quarter as a newly-formed group among media and civil society organizations which would closely monitor and report on public sector corruption and transparency issues in Samar in central Visayas.

Barely a decade ago, Bongao was an underdeveloped municipality despite it being the political and economic capital of Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost province of the Philippines.

Back then, life was difficult and miserable. Economic and social development was slow; prices of basic goods and commodities high -- and the government was desperate for funds to remedy social and environmental problems. Infrastructure too was very poor and private business was hesitant to invest for precisely these reasons.

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Nineteen employees of one of the poorest towns in the province of North Cotabato are being investigated for allegedly spending public funds and wasting official time on a tourist trip to Thailand.

Members of the local legislative council in the municipality of Magpet have threatened to file criminal and administrative cases against the local government employees who appear to have gone on a four-day trip to Thailand from March 9 to March 12, 2011.

The trip came to light after it was found out that on the same dates, at least some of the employees who are members of the municipality’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), were supposed to be on official government business in Metro Manila.

In something of a test case, the recently-launched citizen’s action group Multisectoral Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA-Samar) and the Corruption Prevention Unit-Samar have filed joint charges against officials and employees of the province of Samar for non-compliance with laws and circulars governing the disclosure of financial transactions and banning of billboards with names and pictures of politicians on public projects and programs.

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Lorena Laniton, 45, and Emmanuel Tondocan, 30, rice farmers from Barangay Gayola, a farming village here, are still reeling from the loss they incurred from the massive rat infestation that hit the city and nearby towns in North Cotabato since November last year.

They found themselves in a position of having to pay off huge debts from rice traders they considered ‘loan sharks’ for imposing high interests on loans, ranging from 7-15 per cent.

Instead of harvesting 45 bags of rice in a hectare this season, Laniton only reaped six which she sold only for PhP 5,000 (USD 116) after “a huge army” of rats attacked her farm land. Tondocan meanwhile harvested only three bags from a hectare for only PhP 2,800 (USD 65).

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Photos by Keith Bacongco, Leanne Jazul, Bobby Labalan, Ruby Thursday More,
Sandino Nartea, Emy Bonifacio, and Angelica Carballo

Erring Billboards, Waiting Sheds, Ambulances and Other Public Structures: A Continuing Source of Shame for Politicians Whose Names and Faces Appear on Them

Six months after the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued its Memorandum Circular 2010-101 banning the use of names, initials and photographs of government officials on public projects – and one year after the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) launched its website and the campaign against this practice, we asked photojournalists around the country to watch out for, take and send in photos to help name and shame those who have abused their elected position for private gain.

Many of the billboards, waiting sheds, vehicles and bridges seen here may predate the memorandum – yet PPTRP believes officials who still have their name or likeness on public property have a clear moral obligation to change them accordingly -- and at their own expense.

(The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project next week launches the first in a series of events and reports on building accountability in Maguindanao with a public meeting in Davao featuring Governor Esmael Mangudadatu and others. Today, we take an introductory look at the official response to what was the most tragic and catastrophic failure of governance in national history. The State failed the 58 victims of the November 23, 2009 massacre – those in authority in Maguindanao are charged with involvement and complicity in their killing: Much was promised and ordered investigated or changed since then by the central government in Manila – but more than one year on, what has actually happened?)

In the immediate aftermath of the Maguindanao killings, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered an investigation into the lifestyle of senior members of the Ampatuans, the hugely wealthy and influential clan accused of orchestrating the massacre. Humphrey Monteroso, deputy ombudsman for Mindanao was quoted in Sun Star Davao as saying his team was investigating the family for possible violation of the country’s anti-graft and corruption laws. He alleged that many of the properties and other assets of the clan, conservatively estimated at PhP 3 billion (USD 68 million), were not declared in their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

MARAWI CITY -- It is 7 a.m. and a dozen heavily armed members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) man a checkpoint that marks the boundary between Balindong and Ganassi municipalities.

“We are always on red alert here especially after the ambush and killing of a mayor,” says the young Maranao police officer assigned at the police headquarters in Langcap, Marawi. “We need to elect new leaders, we need to have change,” he adds.

A Two-Part Special Report on Transparency and Accountability in Maguindanao
By Carolyn O. Arguillas in Buluan, Maguindanao

Monday, 18 October 2010

(Part 1)

Maguindanao Governor Esmael “Toto” Gaguil Mangudadatu lives in a two-storey house here that relatives refer to as the “White House.”

The “White House” pales in comparison to the pink and peach mansions of the former Maguindanao governor, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr., and his children in Shariff Aguak but in a town like Buluan, where the Mangudadatus reign supreme, it stands out like the Ampatuan mansions -- a symbol of wealth and power amid poverty and powerlessness.

A Two-Part Special Report on Transparency and Accountability in Maguindanao
By Carolyn O. Arguillas in Buluan, Maguindanao

Monday, 18 October 2010

(Part 2)

He was supposed to have delivered his State of the Province Address (SOPA) in early August. But the governor was in Manila -a complaint that continues to this day. Governor Esmael Mangudadatu goes to Manila to attend the court hearings on the November 23 massacre.

“Because I am the main complainant, I have to be in Manila,” he says.

While he has been assiduous with all his senior appointments, President Benigno Aquino III was especially careful when it came to the person who would head up the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

It is after all the DILG which has to channel his transparency agenda from the national to the local level and down to the grassroots. Aquino essentially led the department himself for several weeks before designating former Naga City mayor Jesse Robredo as its chief.

The DILG has the Local Government Units (LGUs) as its main clientele. The LGUs are subdivided into 81 provinces, 136 cities, 1,495 municipalities and 42,008 barangays as of December 31, 2008.

KIDAPAWAN CITY-- In his first State of the Nation Address, President Benigno Aquino III said he would push for the immediate passage of a bill protecting whistleblowers. If it happens, this could be the answer to the problems Lally Aniñon is facing for having exposed alleged malpractice among government employees in North Cotabato.

Aniñon is an ukay-ukay (used clothing) seller who alleged employees of the City Agriculture Office in Kidapawan were in the business of collecting illegal fees from roadside sellers like her. After her claims were broadcast on local radio here, City Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco ordered the immediate turn-over of the collected amounts to the City Treasury.