Philippines: A project to allow CSOs to get more involved in local public finance | Social Watch.

April 18, 2012

The non governmental organization Code: Reforms for Economic Development (Code: RED) and Social Watch Philippines launched a policy monograph on transparency and accountability in local governance, after several months of workshops in six municipalities to allow grassroots groups to get more involved in local public finance.

According to Code: RED, civil society organizations (CSOs) can be more involved by creating mechanisms that allow them to have a better grasp of local public finance that will eventually lead to their informed participation, and consequently, to a greater transparency and accountability in local governance.

“After all, while access to information might be present, having the capacity to analyze and digest it is a totally different matter,” the organization remarked on Friday 13.

The project is headed by Professor Leonor Briones, convenor of Social Watch Philippines and a former national treasurer.

“The amount of money being given to local governments is nearly as much as that of the national government. No one pays as much attention to it as we do to funding at national level. It’s important for taxpayers to know what their local government is doing,” Briones noted last year, when the project was launched.

Engaging religious groups in the non-sectarian project is “important” to Briones.

“Faith-based groups have strong convictions and are courageous” because they approach corruption as “an issue of morality, not just legal or government issues,” Briones said.

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