Legazpi City vows to pursue Robredo’s transparency, good housekeeping legacies

LEGAZPI CITY, Sept. 6 (PIA) -- The incumbent administration of this city has vowed to live on the Full Disclosure Policy (FDP) and good local government housekeeping that are two of the most important legacies of the late Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.

“We will operate as if Secretary Robredo is still around because he remains the inspiration of the economic growth and fast pacing urban development that we are now attaining. These, in one way or another are products of his policies toward good local governance that we were able to abide by religiously,” City Mayor Geraldine Rosal declared during her “Ulat sa Bayan” over the weekend.

Because of the implementation of the full disclosure policy through MC 2010-83, entitled “Full Disclosure of Local Finances, and Bids and Public Offering” which the city government followed, “we were able to instill honesty among our workers and officials, promote transparency, and orderly managed our funds thus, preventing corruption and misuse of public funds,” Rosal said.

Full Disclosure requires local government units (LGUs) to fully disclose particular financial transactions involving public funds to keep the public informed on how LGU budget is being managed, disbursed, and used.

Its implementation by the DILG which Robredo started is in line with the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991, Republic Act (RA) 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, RA 10147 or the General Appropriation Act and Commission on Audit (COA) Internal Memorandum dated Oct 8, 2010.

Section 352 of the LGC requires “Posting within 30 days from end of each fiscal year in at least three publicly accessible and conspicuous places in the local government unit a summary of all revenues collected and funds received, including the appropriations and disbursements of such funds during the preceding fiscal year.”

RA 9184 on the other hand, requires the “posting of the Invitation to Bid, Notice to Proceed and Approved Contract in procuring entity’s premises, in newspapers of general circulation, the Philippine Government Electric Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the procuring entity.”

RA 10147 provides for the “strict compliance” of the DILG’s FDP and disciplinary actions on responsible officials who would fail to comply with the requirements while the COA memorandum enjoins concerned auditors to monitor management’s compliance.

“Everything that you want to know about the financial transactions of the city government are posted and updated regularly on its website www.legazpicity.gov.ph and it is open to public scrutiny,” she said.

The website, she said contains the city’s procurement list, self income and expenditure estimates, statement of debt service, gender and development (GAD) accomplishment report, statement of receipts and expenditures, statement of cash flow, Special Education Fund (SEF) utilization, Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) utilization, annual budget, 20 percent component of Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) utilization, items for bidding and bid results.

Besides, the lady mayor said “this yearly Ulat sa Bayan we are doing now let every Legazpeño find out what the city government has achieved last year, what it is currently achieving and what are coming up next as we continue to work on local development, economic growth and effective delivery of basic social services based on the framework of good governance that Sec. Robredo left to us.”

On Good Housekeeping, Rosal said the Seal that Robredo has awarded the city government last year would serve as a living reminder of the late DILG secretary’s local good governance initiatives.

The SGH is in recognition of local governments that perform exceptionally well in planning, budgeting, revenue mobilization, financial management, budget execution, procurement and resource mobilization.

LGUs which pass the test and qualify for the Award scored high in these areas wherein good planning requires updated and approved Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), Comprehensive Development Plan, Annual Investment Plan and Executive-Legislative Agenda.

“We just hope that other LGUs like us will do the same way as we wanted to continue Robredo’s legacies so that his intention of guiding us towards ‘tuwid na daan’ continue to live upon us,” Rosal added.

A special report recently published by the Official Gazette of the Philippines in honor of Robredo says that 99 percent of the LGUs in the country have complied with the DILG’s FDP as of June 2012.

Number of LGUs on the other hand that have qualified for the SGH as of June 2012 was 1,357. The SGH was a major initiative of Robredo for local governments that have practiced transparency and have engaged their constituents in governance, the report said. (MAL/DOC-LGU Legazpi City/PIA5)