DILG works for transparent, full disclosure of LGU finances to help curb corruption

By BONG PEDALINO, PIA Southern Leyte
January 13, 2011

QUEZON CITY  –  A remarkable initiative of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) under the new management of Secretary Jesse Robredo has enlisted the efforts of local chief executives as part of the process in finding a lasting solution to an age-old problem of corruption.

We are all part of the problem so we should all be part of the solution as well – or so this first-ever step in a journey of a thousand miles to eradicate corrupt practices tried to say in simple terms.

But the terms of engagement here are not simple, and it has yet to show if this endeavor makes waves.

To be sure, many innovative approaches to lessen corruption in a country known as the only Christian nation in this part of the world, has already been done in the past, yet those moves were just like square pegs on round holes, as illegal acts to squeeze public funds went on, took many forms and faces, and carried out in seemingly legal maneuvers at that.

What makes this one any different then?

According to Feliciano Regis, the OIC-Office of Public Affairs at the DILG Central Office, this has been a novel approach to a lingering illness, even swearing that nothing like this comes close in previous administrations.

This was also the very first pronouncement Sec. Robredo made shortly after assuming his new post, and he was a former Mayor himself, so he knows whereof he speaks about nuances in LGU operations.

Not only that: the idea actually developed out of President Benigno Aquino’s inaugural speech on June 30, 2010 when he stressed the now familiar line “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap,” Regis added in an interview at his office.

It was an idea whose time has come, an idea that acquired flesh on August 31, 2010 as Memorandum Circular Number 2010-83 on the subject, “Full disclosure of local budget and finances, and bids and public offerings.”

Sure enough, the directive was addressed to “all provincial governors, city mayors, municipal mayors, presiding officers of sangguniang panlalawigan, sangguniang panlungsod and sangguniang bayan, ARMM regional governors and DILG regional directors.”

That translates to an imposition for 80 provincial governors, 122 city mayors, 1,512 municipal mayors and, since October 2010, including 42,021 punong barangays to “faithfully comply with the provisions of laws and existing national policy” to inform the general public by posting “budgets, expenditures, contracts and loans in conspicuous places within public buildings in the locality, or in print media of community or general circulation and their websites” – all for a noble and lofty purpose of promoting good local governance.

And, by extension, discouraging attempts of corruption, as the concerned, reading public would be duly aware and informed and, hopefully, these documents can serve as basis for spotting irregularities, then eventually to filing of cases, either in the Ombudsman or the Courts, if needed.

Specifically, twelve (12) documents, with their corresponding information details, are mandatory to be let open, let known to a scrutinizing, often skeptical public purportedly to gain their trust and confidence.

For posting this year, 2011, these are: CY 2011 Annual Budget, Quarterly Statement of Cash Flows, CY 2011 Statement of Receipts and Expenditures, CY 2011 Trust Fund (PDAF) Utilization; CY 2011 Special Education Fund Utilization, CY 2011 20% Component of the IRA Utilization, CY 2011 Gender and Development Fund Utilization, CY 2011 Statement of Debt Service, CY 2011 Annual Procurement Plan or Procurement List, Items to Bid, Bid Results on Civil Works, and Goods and Services, and Abstract of Bids as Calculated.

Coincidentally, serving as a booster to the DILG-led direction, the 2011 General Appropriations Act, or RA 10147 that contained the National Budget for the current year, has a rider provision which makes full disclosure mandatory, reported Regis.

He also pointed out that to sustain the initiative, DILG partnered with NGOs and civil society groups, in addition to their regional structures, for monitoring compliance both in form and substance, not just for the sake of compliance.

By the end of 2010, those who had complied were not much – 18 out of 80 provinces, 34 out of 122 cities.  But with NGO assistance, Regis was confident the figures would increase this year.  But more than expecting a higher compliance rate, Regis said Sec. Robredo was particular on impact, on effects, if at all this has transformed the long-entrenched culture of corruption, replacing it with a culture of honesty which, in turn, will become a habit.

A long shot, definitely, Regis humbly admits.  But somehow there is hope.