By Joann Santiago
MANILA, (PNA) — The Philippines bested six other countries in the Bright Spots Competition held during the recently concluded Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit in London.
The entry is the Commission of Audit’s (COA) Citizen’s Participatory Audit (CPA) project, which outdid the transparency and citizen innovation programs of the other finalists namely Indonesia, Chile, Montenegro, Estonia, Georgia and Romania.
“What is particularly significant about our participation in the OGP summit is that despite the challenges we’re facing in our transparency and accountability campaign, the Aquino administration is keener than ever on reinforcing the strength of our good governance agenda,” Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said.
Abad stressed that because of this feat the Aquino government is “just as determined to push for greater reform toward sustainable public engagement, so that government processes—especially those related to the national budget—will increasingly involve the participation of an empowered citizenry.”
During the Summit, which ended last November 1, the Philippine delegation presented the country’s OGP Action Plan for 2013-15.
Relatively, Presidential Spokesperson Sec. Edwin Lacierda told participants of the Asia Regional Cuacus that amid the need for further improvement in the government’s initiatives for transparency and openness, the Aquino administration is resolved to involve the public in ensuring transparency of government data.
“We will need to tighten coordination among our agencies to ensure that the disclosure of information is always efficient, timely, and accurate,” he said.
“With civil society and the public already very interested in what we’re doing, though, it shouldn’t be difficult for us to engage them in an even deeper and more earnest discussion on government reform. The forthcoming launch of our Open Data portal this November is a decisive step toward that,” he added.