Six months after the inauguration of President Noynoy Aquino and on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day (December 9), Filipinos are beginning to ask what progress the government is making on its campaign promise to combat corruption and thus help eradicate poverty.

Six months on and the President’s personal ratings still remain very high – though they have dipped some since the heady days of May and June according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

During last September’s Senate hearings, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) officials revealed that they received 25-month bonuses apart from their salaries. One official earned PhP 4 million (USD 95,238) in 2009 alone.

The bonuses include an anniversary bonus, mid-year financial assistance, yearend financial assistance, productivity bonus, performance bonus, educational assistance, rate-rebasing bonus, privatization bonus, efficiency incentive, performance enhancement bonus, corporate Christmas package, traditional Christmas package, calamity financial assistance, scholarship allowance, and family week allowance, among others.

This is in clear violation of a memorandum order issued by the previous administration, which limits the salaries of government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC) executives to twice that of Cabinet secretaries.

Senate Bill 2186 or the People's Participation in Budget Deliberations Act is a very welcome move in the fight against corruption and graft and the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project was lucky enough to see it first a few weeks ago and be tapped for our own opinions on it.

Former state auditor Heidi Mendoza’s message to the public at the Valentine’s Day forum where she was key speaker was very timely given we are just days away from marking the 25th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship and ushered in democracy.

In Zamboanga Del Norte, the provincial council approved a PhP 25 million (USD 595,238) supplemental budget for intelligence funds with barely a month left in the fiscal year. In Iligan City, a councilor barged into the announcer’s booth of a local radio station and attacked the news anchor who had questioned the PhP 14 million (USD 333,333) budget allegedly spent for snacks during committee hearings. The broadcaster had said he never saw any snacks served at the hearings.

In Bicol, a quarry that has been in operation for several years has failed to pay any fees over to the barangay in which it sits. In Misamis Occidental, a fourth class municipality has pegged its salary scale to that of a second class municipality and nobody has complained since employees are all reportedly benefiting. Western Samar meanwhile, has been subsisting on a reenacted budget since 2008 which begs the question what has happened to all the savings made from one-off projects which were continually refunded.

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.”

The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) held its 9^th training on advanced and anti-corruption reporting dubbed as “Numeracy for Journalists, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens” on June 6 at Boylyn Pension Plaza in Kidapawan City. The training was made possible with the financial assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the technical assistance of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI).

August heralds the systematic releases of the Commission on Audit (COA) annual audit reports (AAR) of all government agencies and entities and its report on salaries and allowances (ROSA) of all government officials in national government agencies, water districts, and government-owned and/or -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

Among findings from early 2010 audit reports just released is the revelation that a presidential commission prevented the audit agency from conducting an audit for fiscal year 2010.

It appears the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (PCVFA) – an agency sitting within the Office of the President -- prevented the COA from doing an audit.

ZTE-NBN deal whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada spoke out and told all he knew. As a result, while corruption persists, his life has changed forever.

“I still live in fear because those I uncovered are still in power and they are still billionaires –whereas I cannot live a normal live anymore,” Lozada tells the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP).

Lozada, former Chief Executive Officer of the government-run Philippine Forest Corporation and then consultant of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) alleged back in 2008 that then Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Benjamin Abalos and former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo pocketed kickbacks in the USD 329 million construction contract awarded to Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE for the proposed National Broadband Network.

Lozada did not receive any protection from the government. Instead the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines gave him the sanctuary he sought.

Government officials, members of civil society organization workers, academic experts, business people and international development agencies met on Saturday November 20 in Pasig City to sign an agreement in a bid to make government budgets more open.

The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) held its seventh training on advanced transparency and anti-corruption reporting called “Numeracy for Journalists, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens” on May 27 at the Ateneo De Davao in Davao City.

The training is the second leg of the PPTRP training series in Davao City. The first was held in August 2010, where members of the media and civil society organizations were trained on basic laws on transparency and accountability and anti-corruption in the public sector and ways in monitoring and reporting corruption in their respective local governments. The recent training revisited basic concepts on corruption and later focused on understanding local government finance processes, including the powers and limitations of local government officials when it comes to budget matters. It also comprehensively tackled the procurement process, where corrupt practices reportedly continue to take place especially in the absence of public scrutiny.

The Sangguniang Kabataan (SK, Youth Council) was created almost 20 years ago to replace the defunct Kabataang Barangay during the Marcos era.  The Local Government Code of 1991 or Republic Act 7160 gave way to the formation of Katipunan ng Kabataan (KK) chapter – the general assembly of youth in each barangay nationwide.  The law states that any youth aged between 15 and 17 can vote or be voted on to govern the SK. The SK is the legislative body of youths, and its chair sits as a regular member in the Barangay Council as representative of local youth.

Under its constitution and by-laws, the main function of the SK is to “promulgate resolutions necessary to carry out the objectives of the youth in the barangay, initiate programs designed to enhance the social, political, economic, cultural, spiritual a physical development of the members, conduct fund-raising activities, consult and coordinate with all youth organizations in the barangay for policy formulation and program implementation, and coordinate with the appropriate agency for the implementation of youth development projects and programs at the national level.”

“We are beginning to learn who works where, what departments spend and who are the big business recipients of taxpayers’ money,” journalists from the UK Guardian wrote last Friday in response to the latest release of financial details by the British Government.

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.

Lozada and his family has been living under the protection of anti-corruption advocates and religious groups since he escaped an alleged attempt to kidnap and harm him shortly before he was scheduled to appear in the Senate probe on the telecommunication deal in February 2008. Public outcry and media monitoring were said to have helped abort the alleged plan to silence him.

You don’t have to be an influential politician, journalist, diplomat or a Hollywood star to request information around public spending and accountability. You need only to be a citizen and taxpayer.

“Events, dear boy, events” – British prime minister Harold MacMillan’s famous response to a question about the biggest challenge his government faced is probably well-understood and appreciated by President Noynoy Aquino now even if it wasn’t before as he looks back this week on his first 100 days in office.

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.

A total of 23 persons took part in the training. Of the 23 participants, four are female and 19 are male. All are from the media sector.

The training featured as resource person Mr. Nestor Lisondra, OIC-chief of the Project Development, Investment Programming and Budgeting Division of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Region 10.

Lisondra discussed how the Regional Development Council as the highest policy-making body in a region plans and executes the budget according to the economic and development efforts it has set for that specific region. The discussion highlighted the need for the RDC to make sure its budget priorities are consonant with those of the local government units to ensure meaningful development for the people. The inputs and discussion also helped the participants know the difference in the processes between budget planning of government line agencies and that of local governments.

The participants also discussed the powers and limitations of local government officials especially when it comes to budget administration, as well as the procurement process and the areas where corruption usually breeds.

“The budget of the local government, or in this case, the Regional Development Council, is a rich source of stories,” said Rowena Paraan, lead trainer for PPTRP and National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) secretary general. The government budget, she said, could and should be tool for governance, development. But oftentimes and in the absence of public scrutiny, the budget is used as a political tool and is where corruption usually exists, she said.

At the workshop, the participants identified corruption issues that are linked to the local budget administration. Among these were the arbitrary use of intelligence funds by the Misamis Oriental provincial government; unfinished projects such as the City Hospital, Bulua Drainage System and the Convention Center in Barangay Indahag in Cagayan De Oro City; and continued production and use of ads and billboards benefiting only certain politicians.

The participants said the training helped them understand more the local budget process and determine areas that need more scrutiny and reporting. They said they could use their now knowledge to further improve their reporting.

The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) held its third training on advanced transparency and anti-corruption reporting called “Numeracy for Journalists, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens” on March 18 in Legazpi City.

A total of 15 persons took part in the training. Of the 15 participants, 14 were full-time journalists while one is affiliated with the Karapatan human rights group.

We have had a Right to Information bill languishing in the legislative mill now for more than a decade; we have a new president vociferous in his claims that his administration stands for greater transparency and accountability – and yet it is Mongolia not the Philippines that last month joined the ever-growing list of countries to have passed such a law.

Whichever way we try and gloss over it, a government that does not prioritize such an act cannot in all honesty be seen as being fully committed to the cause of transparency and accountability.

Excuses for delay can always found by those seeking them.

For the past few months the Philippine Public Transparency and Reporting Project has been regularly meeting, discussing, developing and formalizing ideas and plans with a group of civil society organisations that have long been working to help improve the level of public transparency and accountability in government.

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 City (WATCH Kidapawan) intensified its campaigns in the last quarter of 2010 for better transparency and accountability of the local governments in Cotabato.

WATCH Kidapawan is the first media-CSO joint group which PPTRP helped develop and establish to monitor and report on transparency and accountability issues in the city.

The Multisectoral Alliance for Transparency and Accountability in Samar (MATA-Samar) has identified priority projects to monitor during its first planning meeting for 2011, held January 8 at its newly installed office in Catbalogan City.

MATA-Samar, which held a high-profile public launch in December will conduct trainings on the budget process, tracking and procurement. These skills will be very essential in monitoring ongoing infrastructure projects in Samar, the group said.

The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project participated in a CSO mapping and synergy session December 13 as part of its continuing engagement with civil society organizations rooting for transparency and accountability in the public sector.

The session, held at the Ateneo School of Government in Quezon City, aimed to conduct rapid assessment and inventory of national and local organizations involved and could be potentially involved in public sector monitoring engagements.

PANGLAO, Bohol -- Nearly 20 years after the idea was first proposed, Bohol finally seems set to have its own international airport located on the tourist island of Panglao.

The airport is to be built as part of the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) plan with a public invitation to bid due out in August.

Local political leaders from governors down have long campaigned for a replacement of the small and heavily congested domestic airport located less than a mile from Tagbilaran City on the neighboring island of Bohol. The proposed new airport lies across the causeway and is a 40-minute drive away from the city.

We’ve received a response from the Office of the Ombudsman to our April 21 request to access and publish all the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) that they hold.

The Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) and the Social Watch Philippines (SWP) jointly organized a media seminar on the Philippine budget October 21 at the Discovery Suites in Pasig City.

The seminar gathered journalists from GMANews.TV, UNTV, Inquirer, Vera Files, BusinessWorld, Business Mirror, the Catbalogan-based Samarnews.com, the Kidapawan-based dxCA Charm Radio, as well as media development organizations and PPTRP partners National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD). Representatives from anti-corruption and governance groups such as the Transparency and Accountability Network, Rice Watch Network, and E-Net Philippines, as well as those of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) also took part in the training.

Yvonne Chua, writer and trustee of Vera Files, discussed the role and responsibility of the media in reporting budget issues. She emphasized that budget itself is very important but the media loses its audience when reporting this “because we don’t understand the budget process ourselves.”

Chua provided tips on how to better write and report budget stories, addressing reasons why budget reporting has become frightening for many journalists to write and explain. “A reporter must not be afraid of numbers, and more importantly, dig deeper into contracts, its vulnerabilities and irregularities, and show and explain details,” Chua said.

SWP lead convenor Leonor Magtolis Briones provided inputs on development, politics and participation in government budgeting. She said that budget legislation is the most spectacular phase in the budget process yet it is not as open and as transparent as the public perceived. The budget calls of the Department of Budget and Management are more important because it is here when policies are set, the former national treasurer said.

Magtolis also emphasized the “natural” partnership between media and civil society organizations in monitoring and reporting on the government budget process. “While CSOs have extensive experience in participatory budgeting, media can give their support by transmitting their advocacies to the public,” she said.

Prof. Alvic Padilla of the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance discussed transparency accountability challenges in the national budget preparation and authorization.

Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona told the participants how the budget process has become a political exercise. He also showed how loopholes in the budget can lead to corruption and misappropriation. The newly elected senator is calling on different branches of government and CSOs to work together to promote a more open budget system.

Mercy Ferrer of Healthcare without Harm shared her group's experience on lobbying for a budget for their advocacy on non-mercurial thermometers and autoclaves. Annalyn Sevilla, public financial management specialist, discussed budget execution and control, including important financial reports to look for to keep track of spending.

At the end of the seminar, the participants suggested to have a follow-through seminar to better train journalists on budget reporting. They also suggested to include editors and publishers, the so-called “gatekeepers” or the ones who decide on what gets published – or not – in the media.

“Tayo bang mga Filipino ay sadyang nilikha ng Panginoon na mangmang, dukha at api? O kaya lang tayo ganito ay dahil hindi pa lamang tayo nabibiyayaan ng isang mabuting pamumuno? (Are we Filipinos created by God as ignorant, wretched and oppressed? Or are we like this because we simply have not been blessed with an enlightened leadership?)”

So our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal once asked his brother Paciano.

The PPTRP held its 10th Transparency and Anti-Corruption Reporting Training at Naomi’s Botanical Gardens, Ozamiz City on October 3, 2010.

NEW CORELLA, Davao del Norte -- This is the Banana Republic, literally, with thousands of acres planted with bananas destined for export. Just a 30-minute drive from Tagum City, this third class municipality strives to provide better farm to market-style facilities such as roads and bridges for its 44, 953 residents -- 90 per cent of whom are farmers or their dependents.

New Corella’s smallest barangay, New Sambog, is typical of the municipality’s 20 other barangays and is a recipient of the government’s Kapitbisig Laban sa Kahirapan --the country’s flagship poverty alleviation project also known as the Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS).