On this 8th issue of TPA Now! Paper Series, legendary civil society leader Manang Pura Sumangil of Concerned Citizen of Abra for Good Governance (CCAGG) collaborate with Anna Bueno and Joy Aceron of G-Watch to co-author and share the experience of CCAGG in pioneering participatory audit in the country. In partnership with the Commission on Audit (COA) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 1997, CCAGG developed the first-ever citizen audit initiative that led to more responsive and accountable infrastructure and environmental projects. The paper provides rich evidence and insights on what enabled CCAGG’s participatory audit, what were the challenges and what lessons can be learned to strengthen civil society engagement in public audit here and abroad. The commentary written by Joy Aceron reflects on the experience of Philippine civil society as a whole in engaging COA.
Pioneering citizen participatory audits in the Philippines: The experience of the Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Government (CCAGG) (5)
Citizen audit and CCAGG (6)
Laying the groundwork for the first Philippine participatory audit (8)
Making critical collaborations work (10)
The fieldwork: auditing infrastructure and environmental projects (12)
Assessing the COA and CCAGG partnership (15)
CCAGG’s assessment (16)
COA’s assessment (17)
UNDP’s assessment (18)
How the CCAGG-COA partnership paved the way for institutionalizing participatory audits (19)
Final words (21)
Audit institutions’ engagement with civil society: Lessons from the Philippine experience
by Joy Aceron (25)
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