Noting that the Philippines was one of the eight country founding members of the Open Government Partnership in 2011, and acknowledged through the years as a leader in the global community in the advocacy and practice of the OGP principles;

Recognizing the positive contribution of the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) in  advancing good governance through the promotion of the OGP principles of transparency, accountability, citizen participation, and anti-corruption in specific government projects and programs which have earned international awards;

Recognizing further the leadership role of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in PH-OGP where the DBM chairs the PH-OGP Steering Committee, as DBM itself hosts the PH-OGP secretariat.

It is of grave concern for us, the non-government members of the PH-OGP Steering Committee, that the DBM has come under a cloud of questioned integrity arising from the current Senate Blue Ribbon Committee public hearings. These hearings have drawn attention to practices in the Procurement Service of the DBM (PS-DBM) that appear contrary to open government principles and values. This puts into question DBM’s credibility as an authentic advocate of OGP principles and our own credibility as partner advocates. 

We find it imperative, therefore, to publicly reaffirm our individual and collective commitment to faithfully uphold and promote the OGP principles. We do so in order to preserve and protect the PH-OGP community’s integrity, credibility and reputation as genuine advocates of good governance. More importantly, we declare this reaffirmation to the OGP principles because we believe that good governance enables real change that can truly be felt by every Filipino.

Therefore, we, the members, representatives and staff of PH-OGP Non-Government Steering Committee reassert that we shall at all times observe, uphold, promote, and practice the OGP principles stated in our PH-OGP commitments, specifically transparency, accountability, citizen participation, anti-corruption, and the use of technology to facilitate these principles. We do not condone any contraventions of these OGP principles. 

It is in the spirit of partnership that we call on our PH-OGP colleagues in DBM to join us in reaffirming our commitment to the OGP principles. Specifically, we request our DBM colleagues to assure us that they are not involved, directly or indirectly, in any of the alleged anomalies or irregularities at the PS-DBM, nor have they knowingly acted as accomplices to violations of OGP principles. We also hope to see our DBM colleagues stepping up, cooperating in, and directly undertaking investigations to seek the truth behind these allegations.

The DBM, or any other public service institution, must never be complicit to any mockery of good governance. This way, we, as partners, can say, “We walk the talk,” and have the moral ascendancy to be authentic reformers for development.

Sgd

MS. ANDREA MARIA PATRICIA SARENAS

Co-Chair, PH-OGP Steering Committee

Mindanao Coalition of Development NGO Networks (MINCODE)

Sgd

MS. MARIA OLIVIA LUCAS

NCR CSO Representative for Non-Government Steering Committee

Unang Hakbang Foundation, Inc. (UHF) 

Sgd

MR. SANTIAGO F. DUMLAO, JR.

Alternate NCR CSO Representative 

Unang Hakbang Foundation, Inc. (UHF) 

Sgd

MS. AURORA REYES CHAVEZ

Luzon CSO Representative 

Coalition for Bicol Development (CBD) 

Sgd

MS. CECILIA UMBAY

Visayas CSO Representative 

Sectoral Transparency Alliance on Natural Resource Governance in Cebu (STANCe)

Sgd

MR. RUBEN PASCUAL

Business Sector Representative

Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI)

Sgd

DR. ADOR TORNEO

Academe Representative

La Salle Institute of Governance (LSIG)

Sgd

DR. ANNIE ENRIQUEZ- GERON

Public Sector Union Representative

Public Services Labor Independent Confederation – National Public Workers’ Congress (PSLINK-PUBLIK)

Sgd

MS. CATHERINE M. A. RUIZ

Continuing Representative

Kaabag sa Sugbo Foundation

Sgd

MS. DEANIE LYN OCAMPO

Lead, PH-OGP Non-Government Secretariat

Caucus of Development NGO Networks

PH-OGP-Non-Gov-SteerComm-Statement-of-Reaffirmation-to-OGP-Principles-Amid-PS-DBM-Controversy