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Philippines

CSO Engagement in Public Audit (PH0033)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Philippines National Action Plan 2015-2017

Action Plan Cycle: 2015

Status: Inactive

Institutions

Lead Institution: Commission on Audit

Support Institution(s): Audit clients, i.e. National, Local and Corporate government offices and Department of Budget and Management. Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific (ANSA-EAP)

Policy Areas

IRM Review

IRM Report: Philippines End-of-Term Report 2015-2017, Philippines Mid-Term Progress Report 2015-2017

Starred: No

Early Results: Major Major

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Public Accountability

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion:

Description

A weak public finance management system leads to the inefficient and ineffective use of public funds. This results to unresponsive government projects that constrain the achievement of national development goals and outcomes. The main objective of CPA is to strengthen and sustain the engagement of citizens and COA in participatory audits. The Phase II of the CPA program intends to scale-up the implementation of CPA nationwide. This will be done through the roll out of participatory audit of farm-to-market roads in all regions of the country and institutionalization of this process. Relevance - Transparency – by including citizens as part of the public audit process, COA systems and processes are made transparent by giving citizen partners the same access to documents as state auditors. Audit reports are also widely disseminated through the COA website (www.coa.gov.ph) and the i-kwenta website (www.i- kwenta.com).
Accountability – Putting in place the CPA Operational Guidelines provides a clear accountability system for both COA and its citizen partners. As part of the horizontal accountability system, COA (and its citizen partners) can check abuses by other public institutions and branches of government, particularly in determining whether public funds have been efficiently allocated and properly expended.
Participation – Under CPA, several avenues for citizen participation are introduced. Oftentimes, citizen partners have the ability to influence the tools used during data gathering activities. During the audit report writing, both COA and its citizen partners work on it together, thereby ensuring that the recommendations identified in the audit report include those of the citizens and state auditors.
Technology and Innovation - The Public Information System ensures that feedback from the public is received by COA. Ambition - By institutionalizing CPA in COA, citizen voice in government oversight systems will be magnified. It is expected that government agencies will take heed and provide the appropriate responses to enhance their own systems and processes. Eventually, the desired outcome would be a better public finance management system that ensures the efficient allocation and expenditure of public funds based on projects that are responsive to the needs and priorities of the people.

IRM Midterm Status Summary

For Commitment details, see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/philippines-mid-term-progress-report-2015-2017.

IRM End of Term Status Summary

5. CSO engagement in public audit

Commitment Text:

A weak public finance management system leads to the inefficient and ineffective use of public funds. This results to unresponsive government projects that constrain the achievement of national development goals and outcomes. The main objective of CPA is to strengthen and sustain the engagement of citizens and COA in participatory audits. The Phase II of the CPA program intends to scale-up the implementation of CPA nationwide. This will be done through the rollout of participatory audit of farm-to-market roads in all regions of the country and institutionalization of this process.

Relevance:

· Transparency – by including citizens as part of the public audit process, COA systems and processes are made transparent by giving citizen partners the same access to documents as state auditors. Audit reports are also widely disseminated through the COA website (www.coa.gov.ph) and the i-kwenta website (www.i- kwenta.com).

· Accountability – Putting in place the CPA Operational Guidelines provides a clear accountability system for both COA and its citizen partners. As part of the horizontal accountability system, COA (and its citizen partners) can check abuses by other public institutions and branches of government, particularly in determining whether public funds have been efficiently allocated and properly expended.

· Participation – Under CPA, several avenues for citizen participation are introduced. Oftentimes, citizen partners have the ability to influence the tools used during data gathering activities. During the audit report writing, both COA and its citizen partners work on it together, thereby ensuring that the recommendations identified in the audit report include those of the citizens and state auditors.

· Technology and Innovation - The Public Information System ensures that feedback from the public is received by COA.

· Ambition - By institutionalizing CPA in COA, citizen voice in government oversight systems will be magnified. It is expected that government agencies will take heed and provide the appropriate responses to enhance their own systems and processes. Eventually, the desired outcome would be a better public finance management system that ensures the efficient allocation and expenditure of public funds based on projects that are responsive to the needs and priorities of the people.

Responsible institution: Commission on Audit

Supporting institution(s): Audit clients, i.e. National, Local and Corporate government offices and Department of Budget and Management. Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific (ANSA-EAP)

Start date: 1 January 2015

End date: 31 December 2017

Commitment Aim

This commitment aimed to strengthen the Citizen Participation Audit (CPA) project and institutionalize citizen participation in public audit to support the Commission on Audit (COA), the constitutionally-mandated auditing body. Building and strengthening CPA has been a commitment in the Philippine national action plan from the beginning. The effort has won an OGP award. In the third action plan, the deliverables intended to sustain and expand CPA through the passage of policies to adopt and support CPA, conducting of CPA activities, and capacity building and mobilization of CSO citizen auditors.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

By the midterm, substantial progress had been made toward completing this commitment. COA has undertaken numerous capacity building activities related to strengthening CPA. COA had published two CPA reports and another 15 reports were being finalized. From June 2015 to August 2016, nine CSOs were trained and deployed as citizen auditors. With regards to sustainability and scaling up efforts, CPA was given a regular budget under the General Appropriations Act and expanded coverage of government offices that it audited (e.g. CPA of solid waste management covering all cities and municipality of Metro Manila).[Note: Thank you to new/ additional information provided by COA in commenting on earlier draft of the Progress Report.] The only deliverable pending completion was the adoption of CPA policies.

End of term: Complete

All the deliverables of this commitment have been completed. The finable deliverables pending have now been completed including the inclusion of CPA in the Strategic Plan of COA from 2016-2022 and the drafting of CPA Strategy and Audit Technique[Note: PH-OGP. End of Term Self-Assessment Report. October 2017.] institutionalize and operationalize CPA. According to the end-of-term self-assessment report, positive progress has been made on the number of CPA activities, capacity building activities, CPA reports published, and CSO monitors trained and mobilized.[Note: Ibid.] CPA reports are accessible online through the COA website.[Note: Commision of Audit, Citizens Participation Reports https://www.coa.gov.ph/index.php/reports/citizen-participatory-audit-reports.]

Did It Open Government?

Public Accountability: Major

CPA has supported COA to perform its mandate of ensuring accountability for public resources, promoting transparency, and helping to improve government operations. Public auditing in the Philippines has been challenged by insufficient resources (there are approximately 7,000 state auditors expected to audit 61,000 government agencies)[Note: Citizen Participatory Audit in the Philippines. http://iniciativatpa.org/2012/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CPA-case-study.pdf. ] and a lack of concrete support from the public, which would sharpen the impact of its audit findings and recommendations. CPA has become a platform for citizens to participate and become deputized as public auditors, thereby acting as a force-multiplier in the audit process. The direct involvement of citizens has led to positive gains: it checks whether projects are beneficial to citizens and those being audited have been found to be more receptive of audit recommendations when citizens are part of the audit team.[Note: Commission on Audit. Written Response to IRM Questionnaire. ] Furthermore, the COA has noticed that auditees have implemented recommendations faster, sometimes even before the receipt of the final audit reports.[Note: Commission on Audit. Written Response to IRM Questionnaire.]

ANSA-EAP has also underscored the conclusion that involving citizens has made agencies are more open to audits and more likely to implement changes based on audit findings. This has subsequently prompted a timelier response from the government.[Note: ANSA-EASP comment on the earlier draft of the Progress Report.] Finally, the CPA reports are an additional source of information for the public, especially those interested in government performance. While the impact of audit reports on agencies’ performance, and in deterring corruption or inefficiencies, has yet to be studied systematically, this commitment has provided new opportunities for CSOs to participate in the audit process and has served as a mechanism to generate a response from those being audited.

Carried Forward?

The commitment has been carried forward in the national action plan. Its focus is to improve the CPA policies based on experience, conduct CPA dialogues with the data gathered to be used as inputs in the COA’s strategic planning, plan audit activities, and evaluate agency implementation of audit recommendations.

Commitments

  1. Citizen Participation in Local Government

    PH0056, 2019, Capacity Building

  2. Participation in Local Tourism Development

    PH0057, 2019, Capacity Building

  3. Basic Education Inputs Program

    PH0058, 2019, Capacity Building

  4. Open Data Portal

    PH0059, 2019, Capacity Building

  5. Participatory Monitoring of Infrastructure Projects

    PH0060, 2019, Capacity Building

  6. Implement EITI

    PH0061, 2019, Beneficial Ownership

  7. Passage of Freedom of Information Law

    PH0062, 2019, Capacity Building

  8. Labor Inclusivity and Dispute Resolution

    PH0063, 2019, Capacity Building

  9. Participatory Children's Health and Nutrition Program

    PH0064, 2019, Gender

  10. Indigenous Representation in Local Legislative Councils

    PH0065, 2019, E-Government

  11. Open Contracting Data Publication

    PH0066, 2019, Audits and Controls

  12. Civil Society Participation to Improve LGU Service Delivery

    PH0042, 2017, Capacity Building

  13. Engage Communities in the Fight Against Corruption, Criminality and Illegal Drugs

    PH0043, 2017, Capacity Building

  14. Ease of Doing Business:Competitiveness

    PH0044, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  15. Ease of Doing Business: Philippines’ Anti-Red Tape Challenge)

    PH0045, 2017, Capacity Building

  16. Citizen Participatory Audit)

    PH0046, 2017, Audits and Controls

  17. 8888 Citizens’ Complaint Center

    PH0047, 2017, Public Participation

  18. Government Feedback Mechanism

    PH0048, 2017, Capacity Building

  19. Access to Information Legislation

    PH0049, 2017, Capacity Building

  20. e-Participation Through the National Government Portal

    PH0050, 2017, Citizenship and Immigration

  21. Open Budget Index and Budget Reform Bill

    PH0051, 2017, E-Government

  22. Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

    PH0052, 2017, Beneficial Ownership

  23. Institutional Mechanisms for Disaster Response

    PH0053, 2017, E-Government

  24. Shelter Development for Informal Settler Families

    PH0054, 2017, E-Government

  25. Open Local Legislative Processes

    PH0055, 2017, E-Government

  26. Law on ATI

    PH0029, 2015, Right to Information

  27. Transparency of Local Govs Plans and Budgets

    PH0030, 2015, Fiscal Transparency

  28. Open Data

    PH0031, 2015, Open Data

  29. Extractive Industries' Transparency

    PH0032, 2015, Extractive Industries

  30. CSO Engagement in Public Audit

    PH0033, 2015,

  31. Civic Enagement in Local Budget Planning

    PH0034, 2015, Participation in Budget Processes

  32. Civic Enagement in Local Budget Planning – Community Capacity-Building

    PH0035, 2015, Capacity Building

  33. Improving Public Service Delivery

    PH0036, 2015, Public Participation

  34. Improving Local Govs' Performance

    PH0037, 2015, Capacity Building

  35. Improve the Ease of Doing Business

    PH0038, 2015, Private Sector

  36. Local Government Competitiveness

    PH0039, 2015, Capacity Building

  37. Public and Private Sector Dialogue

    PH0040, 2015, Private Sector

  38. Improving Corporate Accountability

    PH0041, 2015, Private Sector

  39. Sustain Transparency in National Government Plans and Budgets

    PH0020, 2013, E-Government

  40. Support for the Passage of Legislations on Access to Information and Protection of Whistleblowers

    PH0021, 2013, Legislation & Regulation

  41. Engage Civil Society in Public Audit

    PH0022, 2013, Public Participation

  42. Enhance Performance Benchmarks for Local Governance

    PH0023, 2013, Capacity Building

  43. Enhance the Government Procurement System

    PH0024, 2013, E-Government

  44. Strengthen Grassroots Participation in Local Planning and Budgeting

    PH0025, 2013, Participation in Budget Processes

  45. Provide More Accessible Government Data in a Single Portal and Open Format

    PH0026, 2013, E-Government

  46. Starred commitment Initiate Fiscal Transparency in the Extractive Industry

    PH0027, 2013, Extractive Industries

  47. Starred commitment Improve the Ease of Doing Business

    PH0028, 2013, Private Sector

  48. Disclose Executive Budgets

    PH0001, 2011, Fiscal Transparency

  49. Access to Information Initiative

    PH0002, 2011, Right to Information

  50. Broader CSO Engagement

    PH0003, 2011, OGP

  51. Participatory Budget Roadmap

    PH0004, 2011, Participation in Budget Processes

  52. Local Poverty Reduction

    PH0005, 2011, Subnational

  53. Empowerment Fund

    PH0006, 2011, Capacity Building

  54. Social Audit

    PH0007, 2011, Public Participation

  55. Results-Based Performance

    PH0008, 2011, Capacity Building

  56. Performance-Based Budgeting

    PH0009, 2011, Capacity Building

  57. Citizen’S Charters

    PH0010, 2011, Capacity Building

  58. Internal Audit

    PH0011, 2011, Audits and Controls

  59. Single Portal for Information

    PH0012, 2011, E-Government

  60. Integrated Financial Management System

    PH0013, 2011, E-Government

  61. Electronic Bidding

    PH0014, 2011, E-Government

  62. Procurement Cards

    PH0015, 2011, Open Contracting and Procurement

  63. Manpower Information System

    PH0016, 2011, E-Government

  64. Expand the National Household Targeting System (NHTS)

    PH0017, 2011, Public Participation

  65. e-TAILS

    PH0018, 2011, E-Government

  66. Budget Ng Bayan

    PH0019, 2011, Fiscal Transparency