ANTI-CORRUPTION – Advancing Infrastructure Implementation Transparency (PHSC0005)

Commitment ID

PHSC0005

Commitment Title

ANTI-CORRUPTION - Advancing Infrastructure Implementation Transparency by Reinforcing Citizen Participation

Problem

South Cotabato, a province with an area of ___ and over 1 million inhabitants, has multiple GIDA areas whose infrastructure needs abound. There are already convergence programs (focused on the sitio/purok level) aimed to address this, but there are still sentiments from other communities that their needs are not being met, mainly caused by the lack of public participation in implementation. At the same time, there is a demand for the government to be even more transparent in its procurement process. There are already observers from the civil society during the procurement process, but perhaps there are still areas for improvement, especially since the following problems still persist:

Infrastructure projects not finished on time
Materials used are subpar
Public participation is still limited
There is no public interest in participating

Status quo

There are anti-corruption policies in place, especially in procurement, but there are still citizens with the sentiment that the government needs to be more transparent in certain processes, such as in procurement and budgeting; there are communities whose needs in terms of infrastructure are not addressed.

Action

The commitment will focus on making infrastructure procurement/contracting and implementation more open by increasing public participation during the process by heavily involving civil society in more ways:

Opening up to more bidders by raising awareness on the negotiated procurement/community-based procurement provisions in the Republic Act 12009 or the New Government Procurement Act
Possibly increasing the CSO observers and making their reports more visible
Involving the community in monitoring and evaluation of infrastructure projects by operationalizing the Barangay Project Monitoring and Evaluation Committees (BPMEC)

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem described above?

By directing more eyes on infrastructure implementation from bidding up to evaluation, this ensures that the right infrastructure project is built by the right contractor using the right materials at the right speed, effectively addressing all the issues identified.

What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategy does this commitment relate to?

In the long run, the improved quality of infrastructure projects will increase rural-urban integration, support economic growth and improve access of the poor to basic socio-economic services such as health, education and livelihood development.

Hence, this commitment impacts the achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As for the outcome, the relevant SDGs include 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), 10 (Reduce Inequalities), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 16 (Peace, and Justice, and Strong Institutions), and goal number 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

Primary Policy Area

Inclusion, Open Contracting

Primary Sector

Public Services (general)

What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?