MANILA – Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Kristian Ablan put forward the Philippine government’s initiatives to promote transparency and accountability during the panel discussion of the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information, and Personal Data Protection’s (INAI) anti-corruption conference in Mexico last week.
Ablan, program director of the Freedom of Information (FOI), also discussed the citizen’s access to public information during the panel session entitled Citizen participation, transparency, and accountability: essential tools in the fight against corruption.
He elaborated on Project DIME (Digital Information for Monitoring and Evaluation) under the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), DevLIVE app under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Open Data under the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Government Procurement Policy Board website, electronic FOI Portal, Philippine Transparency Seal, Transparency roadshows, and Dagyaw townhall discussions.
“We conduct these activities and made accessible to the public these platforms so the people may verify or countercheck the projects their government is undertaking. This way, we uphold the integrity of public funds,” Ablan said.
The panel’s objectives were to discuss how citizen participation, transparency, and accountability schemes hinder acts that slander integrity and to take stock of perspectives from guarantor bodies, international organizations, and civil society organizations.
Other panelists include Chilean Transparency Council Chief-of-Staff Rodrigo Mora, Public Spending and Accountability Program of Mexico Coordinator Mariana Campos, United Nations Office against Drugs and Crime in Mexico Senior Technical Officer Aran Mayola, and INAI Commissioner Josefina Román.
INAI’s Access to Information Secretary Ileana Hidalgo served as panel session moderator.
An opening ceremony and three panel sessions constitute INAI’s anti-corruption conference – Transparencia para combatir la corrupción: un camino hacia 2030 (Transparency to fight corruption: path towards 2030) – wherein officials of INAI and national government bodies were present and made their call to action. (PR)
