The Call For Integrity
By Secretary Jesse M. Robredo
Department of Interior and Local Government

	Secretary Jesse M. Robredo

Psychologist and philosopher William James once said "a new idea is first condemned as ridiculous and then dismissed as trivial until finally it becomes what everybody knows." The trajectory of acceptance, he says, goes from ridiculous to trivial to widely accepted knowledge.

Hopefully to many of us in this room, transparent and accountable governance has already graduated to the degree of "what everybody knows to be crucial for us to go to the next level of our national evolution."

We preach it; we practice it. We devote time and effort to systematize our execution of it. Alam ko, na bigamy na bigamy talaga ang Balay Mindanaw sa gawaing ito with the help of our development partners USAID and The Asia Foundation and you all deserve the administration's sincere appreciation for the work that you have done in this area.

For many of you, being here is accomplishment enough.

When Congressman Erin Tanada was saying about local government officials probably who are not very happy about the FOI Bill inasmuch as it imposes transparency in their operations, it is to them that all of those who are here did not yield. All of those who are present here have subscribe to the idea that accountability comes with authority. Lagi kong naaalala si Spider Man, ang sabi niya, “With great power comes with great responsibility.”

However, some may still be thinking that budget tracking and openness to CSOs are still trivial matters. Funding and resources, politics and vested interests are realities in the local government setting that we must face squarely. They can often take up most of a local chief executive's time, leaving little energy for other concerns.

Trivial, however, is a lot better than ridiculous. Unfortunately, another reality is that in the outside world where government positions are considered juicy because of the perks and entitlements that go with them, what we are doing here in terms of transparent and accountable governance are still ridiculous. They may not say so; sometimes they may even speak our language and praise our work. But deep inside, they don't think we will ever succeed in institutionalizing this movement.

They are wrong.

BTTAG Project Manager, Paul Richard A. Paraguya, shares about the beginnings, challenges and inspiring stories during the implementation of BTTAG.

In our world today, there is an emerging power that does not come from carbon, subatomic particles, not politics. It's the power of collaboration. Palagay ko po, yung pagtitipon-tipon natin dito, ito po yung kapangyarihan na hindi pa nila nasukat. You know, there was a time when the relationship of the local government units and NGOs were adversarial. There was a time when NGOs think that they cannot track the local government. And of course, LGUs felt that the group that can actually track them can’t participate. At this point in time I think all of us will agree that our mutual cooperation is the foundation of better local governance in our country.

It's the idea that people coming together can effect great change. Filipinos are early adopters in this game--we have stumbled on this power in the 1980s with the revolution that kicked out a dictator and put President Aquino's late mother into power. Perhaps going back as far as the days of bayanihan, we have already proven to be naturals at collaboration.

BTTAG and CSOS participation in budget tracking harvest the power of collaboration. This movement gives local governments good reason to fix their budget systems, to be accountable to their constituents, and raise the bar overall in Mindanao local governance. And since good governance is a shared responsibility, it provides a platform for people to engage their local government. It also raises CSO capability by opening up the conversation on budgets--the true indicator of any organization's real intentions.

The DILG over the last two years has institutionalized the Seal of Good Housekeeping. This may be an oversimplification, but the success of this reform rests on the collaboration of two things. One, the execution of the LGU. Two, the participation of CSOs and POs. We are flinging the doors wide open for people to participate in governance. Especially here in Mindanao.

Next month, we are bringing this reform to a higher level. We are launching the Second Level of the Seal of Good Housekeeping to ensure that we hit a new standard of managing our people, resources, and transformative leadership.

In 2011, we focused on sound financial management through COA opinions on local financial transactions and observance of the Full Disclosure Policy. This year, those who did not qualify will be assessed on SGH Bronze, and those who did will be covered by SGH Silver.

For Silver, on top of the COA Opinions and Full Disclosure Policy, we are now requiring LGUs to comply with the Government Procurement Act through the creation of a functional Bids and Awards Committee and the requirements of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System of PhilGEPS. Another criteria is the CSC Report Card Survey on the Anti-Red Tape Law.