DAVAO CITY (PIA) — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) simplified the thrust of the government in rolling out the Open Government Partnership (OGP), popularized as “OGPinas!” during its series of launches in major cities in the country.
“The Open Government Partnership has a simple but powerful goal: that government should truly serve and empower their citizens,” Chief Budget and Management Specialist Elvin D. Chatto of DBM XIII said during his presentation of the overview of OGPinas during the Mindanao leg Advocacy Campaign launch held in Davao City on November 24.
The OGPinas, Chatto explained, envisions the Philippine government becoming “more transparent, more accountable, and more responsive to their own citizens, improving the quality of governance and services that citizens receive.”
DBM XIII Chief Budget and Management Specialist Elvin D. Chatto during the OGPinas Mindanao Advocacy Campaign in Davao, City, Nov. 24.
It is still built on the four core principles of good governance, such as transparency, accountability, participation, and technology, that “guide its mission and initiatives,” but it has scaled up the participation of the civil society sector as the primary partner of the government in framing commitments to improve public services.
He explained that transparency “aims to ensure that citizens have access to reliable and timely information about government activities, budgets, policies, laws, and public services.”
“Transparency fosters public trust, enables accountability, and allows citizens to participate and influence government actions,” he said.
He referred to accountability as “the responsibility of governments to answer for their actions and decisions, and to be responsive to the needs and interests of citizens.”
Meanwhile, accountability calls for a mechanism “to monitor and evaluate government performance, ensure compliance with laws and regulations, and address instances of corruption or abuse of power involving people’s participation.”
“Accountability mechanisms empower citizens to hold governments accountable for their actions,“ he said.
The OGPinas is expected to heighten people’s participation, thus requiring a mechanism to ensure the “active engagement of citizens in public decision-making processes.”
“By involving citizens, governments can ensure that policies and services reflect the diverse needs and preferences of the people they serve,” Chatto added.
To ensure openness of partnership in governance, OGP leverages the latest technology and promotes the use of “digital tools, platforms, and innovations to enhance transparency, citizen participation, and the overall effectiveness of governance.”
While the OGP modifies what used to be the “whole of nation approach” into the “whole of open government approach,” it specifies only three key actors that include the government, civil society organizations, and other actors that may include academia, the private sector, international organizations, and donors.
Chatto explained that some countries expand OGP processes beyond the national executive branch to involve the legislative and judiciary branches of the government with various autonomous bodies and local governments.
“By involving multiple branches of government and diverse entities, countries aim to foster a comprehensive and inclusive approach to open governance,” he said.
However, the OGP counts on the civil society organizations as the key partners of the government in crafting, executing, and overseeing the OGPinas action plans.
“Through multi-stakeholder mechanisms, this collaborative effort ensures inclusive decision-making, blending a variety of perspectives and strengths of various organizations, and fostering a connection between government actions and public understanding,” Chatto said.
The Philippines is one of the eight OGP founding governments, alongside Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
They formally launched the OGPinas on September 20, 2011, with nine civil society organizations, endorsed the Open Government Declaration, and announced their country’s action plans.
In the Philippines, the DBM sits as the chair of the OGP Steering Committee, with the Mindanao Coalition of Development NGO Networks (MinCode) as its current co-chairperson.
OGP has been institutionalized in the Philippines through Executive Order No. 31 signed, on June 20, 2023. (JMDA, PIA XI/ Photo Courtesy: DBM)
