Commission on Audit chair Grace Pulido-Tan: Deeply honored. 蜜桃工作室 FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines鈥擮rdinary people have the power to exact transparency and accountability from their public servants.
Commission on Audit (COA) chair Grace Pulido-Tan made this statement on learning that the Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA), a government transparency project led by the COA, won this year鈥檚 Bright Spots competition at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit in London on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
Tan said that COA鈥檚 officials and rank-and-file employees were all 鈥渧ery deeply honored鈥� by the international recognition accorded their work.
She said the COA, with its partners from civil society, initiated the CPA last year to directly involve ordinary citizens in exacting accountability from the government over their money.
鈥淚t is based on our belief that a truly transparent and accountable government can only be possible with an involved and vigilant citizenry,鈥� Tan said in a message to the Inquirer.
鈥淭hat it has created this impact is a most pleasant surprise, and it inspires us to do our very best to faithfully carry out our work for the people,鈥� she added.
Tan sent Commissioner Heidi Mendoza to the London summit to present the project at three sessions attended by over 1,000 world leaders and ministers and representatives of nongovernment organizations who came to show their commitment to radically greater transparency and accountability to citizens.
Mendoza was assisted by COA Director Aida Ayaso Talavera, CPA project management team leader, and Vivien Suerte-Cortez of COA鈥檚 partner organization, Affliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific Foundation.
The CPA is part of COA鈥檚 five-year Strategic Plan (2011-2016), which has identified transparency and openness to citizen participation as key facets of its priority reform agenda.
The CPA emerged as the overall crowd favorite even before the real-time voting that was conducted from 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Nov. 1. The Philippines was declared the winner at the close of the summit.鈥�Cynthia D. Balana
听
RELATED STORY:
Transparency project 鈥楤right Spot鈥� for PH