Opening Speech for PH-OGP Forum
February 8, 2023 | 9 AM
Good day to my fellow public servants.
Allow me to first welcome you all to the Philippine Open Government Partnership or the PH-OGP Forum. We are here today to provide a comprehensive brief on the OGP and the role it plays in Philippine governance. As such, we will repeatedly hear the words transparency, accountability, and citizen participation—words we have encountered throughout our government service. And today, we have another opportunity to take these words to heart and put them into action.
As you may know, our country is one of the founding members of Open Government Partnership, a multi-stakeholder partnership composed of government leaders and civil society advocates that aim to promote transparent, participatory, inclusive, and accountable governance. Currently, the OGP includes 78 countries and 106 local governments, and thousands of civil society organizations or CSOs.[1]
To ensure that the bureaucracy is working for the citizenry, we are conducting participatory consultations and forging strong multi-sectoral partnerships.[2] As a matter of fact, in the Philippine Development Plan, PH-OGP is identified as a key strategy in the practice of good governance and improvement of bureaucratic efficiency.
Since 2011, five (5) action plans consisting of 65 commitments have already been implemented. Based on the assessment conducted by the Independent Reporting Mechanism, more than half of the commitments in the Philippines’ National Action Plan are classified as ambitious—or exceeding expectations—and one-third has produced early results in fiscal openness and right to information. For instance, the Commission on Audit’s commitment to participatory social audit through the Citizen Participatory Audit or CPA Program has been recognized internationally for its impact in demonstrably improving the quality of people's lives and democracy.
Meanwhile, the Department of Finance’s commitment to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative or EITI has also resulted in the Philippines being declared as the first to have achieved satisfactory progress in the implementation of the 2016 EITI Standards. This is among 50 EITI-implementing countries around the world.
DBM’s strong commitment to fiscal openness has also resulted in the establishment of the DBM CSO Desk—a platform that will address budget-related concerns and inquiries and will provide capacity-building and training for CSOs on the budget process to enable a more meaningful engagement. A long list of our fruitful exchanges with various government agencies is found in our reports.
But I am not here to just highlight the accomplishments of PH-OGP. More importantly, we want you to know that good and open governance is within our reach—with everyone’s help.
Together, let us ensure that democracy permeates every sector of society. Let us strengthen public trust through government-initiated fora and the publication of reports and data that are open to feedback. Let us formulate plans and policies that will make a lasting impact on different groups and industries in the country. Let us ensure that accountability, transparency, and citizen participation become realities imbued in government service. Let us serve the Filipino people with Open Governance in mind.
Before I end, I would like to mention that this first quarter, we will fast-track the development of the 6th PH-OGP National Action Plan. We hope to have you onboard and involved. This forum is our way of nurturing our partnerships and forging new ones with you. As we strive to institutionalize PH-OGP to achieve a whole-of-government mechanism for anti-corruption, public participation, and bureaucratic efficiency, we recognize that as early as now, it is beneficial for all of us to learn its processes and recognize its value.
Rest assured that by being our partners, your presence, thoughts, and contributions will be valued and of course, challenged as well. At PH-OGP, we have high regard for the rigor of discourse in order for us to arrive at the wisest decision that will strengthen the collaboration between the government and the people. We believe that the more open the government is, the more opportunities we have to do better.
We are looking forward to you joining us. Maraming salamat po. Assalamu alaikum.
[1] Open Government Partnership. https://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/.
[2] Philippine Open Government Partnership. https://ogp.dbm.gov.ph/index.php/about-us/accomplishments.
