Resources

During the height of COVID-19, G-Watch was one of the few (if not the only) organizations that conducted monitoring of government programs and services.

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.

Last May 9, 2022, Filipinos cast their ballot for the national and local elections.

Government Watch (G-Watch) accountability frontliners have conducted an Election Day Monitoring as part of G-Watch’s efforts to make elections an accountability platform.

G-Watch views the upcoming polls in 2022 as an extremely important terrain that has to be engaged, and that would complement other accountability efforts that are being undertaken before, after and beyond elections.

We looked at all readily-accessible independent assessments done on the response of the Duterte administration to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with G-Watch’s monitoring reports on the social amelioration program, vaccination and citizen health entitlements.

The general mark given by the 49 reports reviewed in this paper on the Duterte administration’s COVID-19 response is: ‘Bagsak.’

Multiply-Ed or X-Ed is a project of the Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN) (www.cyanpilipinas.com) and Government Watch (G-Watch) (www.g-watch.org) that aims to set up a youth- led, multi-sectoral, and multi-level monitoring of education in the time of COVID-19.

G-Watch’s Making Elections an Accountability Platform (MEAP) aims to enable the accountability function of the electoral exercise, crucial in today’s context to avert democratic rollback and reclaim the politics of reform. This narrative report details the key accountability messages obtained from the participants of the citizenship education sessions.

This paper, the 7th issue of TPA Now!, examines the dilemma in the Philippines of having prevalent voters’ education efforts, on one hand and persisting flawed electoral culture, on the other hand. It does so by reviewing the approaches adopted by previous voters’ education campaigns to offer a possible alternative approach, an ‘ecosystemic approach,’ that could better empower Filipino voters by turning elections into an accountability platform.

This 6th issue of TPA Now shares an original first-hand account of a citizen monitoring initiative covering the biggest poverty reduction program in the Philippines, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the lessons that can be learned from the initiative by practitioners, researchers and donors supporting social accountability.

This paper presents the findings of G-Watch monitoring on whether and how citizen engagement and accountability mechanisms of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) have remained active despite the pandemic. The research involved reviewing relevant loan documents with the World Bank to establish whether loans entered into by the government for 4Ps included prescribed citizen engagement and accountability mechanisms.

This report presents G-Watch’s multi-level scanning of the state of implementation of the government’s COVID -19 vaccination program at the national and local levels within the first few months of the rollout. While there have been status reports of aggregated data at the national level, there has been a gap of consolidated independent information on what is happening in the vaccination efforts on the ground.

This report presents the findings of G-Watch independent validation of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) specifically in four (4) barangays of Marawi City and 1 barangay of Maguing, Lanao del Sur. Conducted in May to July 2020, the result of the field survey by accountability frontliners of G-Watch Marawi showed key gaps and challenges in the delivery of social assistance in Lanao del Sur. Non-compliance to standards were persistent, specifically the mandated process of filling-up the social amelioration card and the expected time the cash assistance was to be received.

This TPA Now paper, the 5th in the series, answers what “youth-led” means based on existing literature and insights from G-Watch youth organizing work. It examines whether the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been truly youth-led and indicative of reform gains from the SK Reform Law.

This COVID-19 Citizen Entitlement Map 2.0 (C-CEM 2.0) lists the key citizen entitlements in the vaccination program of the government and the responsible agencies for each entitlement. A space is also provided for those who intend to use the map as a tool.

On February 14 to 16, 2021, G-Watch’s annual event—Ako, Ikaw, Tayo, May Pananagutan (AIM-P)—took on an unlikely theme: ‘Love and Accountability at the Time of a Pandemic.’ The theme jumps off from the idea that the best way to love during a pandemic is to hold power to account.

Ten sites in the Philippines held simultaneous events, both physical and online, which were attended by representatives from local government, youth groups, and civil society organizations, as well as citizens - in Marawi; Bacolod; Dumaguete; San Miguel, Bohol; Sibagat, Agusan del Sur; Quezon City; Puerto Princesa; Cebu City; Maasin, Southern Leyte; and Tacloban. Majority of the events were held on Valentines’ Day.

This report presents the highlights of the simultaneous events, particularly the key themes that emerged from the assessment and reflection, which are as follows:

TPA Now! A Paper Series on Transparency, Participation and Accountability is a platform for practitioners, researchers and action strategists to present evidence and reflect on the practice and research on strategic TPA and to broaden awareness on the importance of accountability in governance. It is an initiative of Government Watch (G-Watch), in partnership with Accountability Research Center (ARC) to advance the discourse and practice of ‘strategic TPA.’

The challenge of transformative impact of transparency, participation and accountability (TPA) initiatives points to the need for a different way of doing accountability. To advance the discourse and practice of ‘strategic TPA,’ Government Watch (G-Watch), in partnership with Accountability Research Center (ARC), launches TPA Now! A Paper Series on Transparency, Participation and Accountability as a platform for practitioners, researchers and action strategists to present evidence and reflect on the practice and research on strategic TPA and to broaden awareness on the importance of accountability in governance. 

This 3rd issue of TPA Now! looks into the loans and grants incurred by the Philippine government to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes a database of the relevant loans and grants with financing institutions, the highlights of the agreements, including their priority sectors and payment terms. The paper also includes a review of emerging international standards in promoting transparency, participation and accountability in COVID-19 loans, a rapid scanning of what accountability mechanisms and platforms are provided in Philippine COVID-19 loan and grant agreements, and the critical gaps in exacting accountability from the government's use of borrowed financing to respond to the pandemic.

The challenge of transformative impact of transparency, participation and accountability (TPA) initiatives points to the need for a different way of doing accountability. To advance the discourse and practice of ‘strategic TPA,’ Government Watch (G-Watch), in partnership with Accountability Research Center (ARC), launches TPA Now! A Paper Series on Transparency, Participation and Accountability as a platform for practitioners, researchers and action strategists to present evidence and reflect on the practice and research on strategic TPA and to broaden awareness on the importance of accountability in governance. 

This first issue of TPA Now! Paper Series provides the context and rationale for the paper series. The worsening accountability situation, both in the country and in various parts of the world, despite decades-long efforts by civil society, governments and development partners shows how difficult is the fight against corruption, abuse of power and impunity. As pro-reform/ pro-accountability forces advance and learn from their actions, so do anti-reform/ anti-accountability forces—and often at a faster rate given the resources they have. For this reason, the campaign for accountability not only has to continue, but it also has to be done better and differently. Continuing the critical reflection, discourse and exchanges of knowledge among allies would be crucial to ensure progress. Sharing good experiences and lessons would also be useful in providing the needed inspiration to keep the work going even against formidable odds. 

The challenge of transformative impact of transparency, participation and accountability (TPA) initiatives points to the need for a different way of doing accountability. To advance the discourse and practice of ‘strategic TPA,’ Government Watch (G-Watch), in partnership with Accountability Research Center (ARC), launches TPA Now! A Paper Series on Transparency, Participation and Accountability as a platform for practitioners, researchers and action strategists to present evidence and re ect on the practice and research on strategic TPA and to broaden awareness on the importance of accountability in governance. 

This paper, the second issue of TPA Now! Paper Series, explores the emerging practices of transparency, participation and accountability in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Specifically, it checks how BARMM demonstrates its emerging TPA practices as it responds to the COVID-19 crisis. A quick scan of the efforts of BARRM in addressing COVID-19 shows that BARMM is heading to the right direction in enabling TPA in BARMM. However, there are still many complementary policies, mechanisms and efforts needed to set up a holistic, integrated accountability system in BARMM that works towards sustainable development and lasting peace. 

Given the many issues and challenges surrounding the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP), including the observed ‘reversed accountability’ (Aceron 2020) in its existing validation process, Government Watch (G-Watch) has undertaken its own independent validation of the delivery of SAP assistance at the beneficiary level. G-Watch’s independent validation of the SAP was done through field interview of 470 SAP and non-SAP beneficiaries in 12 barangays in 4 localities all over the country using a survey tool.