October 26, 2016, Quezon City – The Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) and the Commission on Audit (COA) signed a memorandum of agreement  (MOA) yesterday to work together on a citizen participatory audit (CPA) of selected permanent shelter projects in Typhoon Yolanda and Sendong affected areas.

CODE-NGO Executive Director Sixto Donato C. Macasaet and Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson Michael G. Aquinaldo sign the memorandum of agreement (MOA) stating the roles of both parties in conducting a citizen participatory audit of government’s Yolanda shelter projects. 

It has been close to 3 years since Typhoon Yolanda and 5 years since Typhoon Sendong ravaged the country. Of the government rehabilitation projects that were implemented for affected communities, the shelter component is experiencing the most delays, with 19% accomplishment rate for Typhoon Yolanda affected areas as of October 2015. The citizen participatory audit aims to assess the performance of concerned government agencies in implementing the project, identify reasons for delays and recommend actions to address these.

The citizen participatory audit (CPA) is a mechanism by which COA involves the citizens in the audit process by deputizing civil society organization (CSO) representatives to join their audit teams. The CPA is COA’s contributions to the national government’s commitments to the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

The COA and CODE-NGO partnership agreement spells out both parties’ roles in conducting a special performance audit of selected permanent shelter projects implemented by the government in Typhoon Yolanda-affected areas of Palawan, Iloilo and Tacloban City and in Typhoon Sendong-affected Iligan City.

CODE-NGO and its participating CSO members are also interested to look at how the needs of the most vulnerable groups in disasters – persons with disabilities, elderly, women and children – were considered in the design and implementation of these permanent shelter projects. This initiative aims to strengthen policies and processes in implementing permanent shelter projects post-disaster so that these become more responsive.

Representatives of the CODE-NGO’s Advancing CSO Engagement on DRR-CCA (ACED) Project, Christian Aid and COA’s auditors assigned in the National Housing Authority (NHA) witness the CODE-NGO and COA partnership agreement signing. 

At present, the audit design and objectives are being developed jointly by COA and CODE-NGO. A training program on CPA to be facilitated by CODE-NGO, COA and its partner organization Affiliated Network for Social Accountability – East Asia and the Pacific (ANSA-EAP) is scheduled on November 14-18, 2016.

This initiative is being supported by CODE-NGO’s Advancing CSO Engagement in DRRM-CCA (ACED) Project, with funding support from Christian Aid in the Philippines.

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For more information:

Roselle Rasay

Deputy Executive Director, CODE-NGO

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