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Ensuring Ecological Integrity, Clean, and Healthy Environment
The current pandemic affected the delivery of public services and challenged the transparency and accountability of public officials to provide people-centered, clean, and efficient governance. Both the national and local government units played crucial roles in the immediate response to curtail the spread of the CoVID-19 and in driving the communities towards the economy's safe re-opening, recovery, and in building the foundation for the “new and better” normal.
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To achieve the chapter outcome several policies, programs, projects, and activities focused on reducing corruption, achieving seamless service delivery, enhancing administrative governance, empowering,and engaging the citizenry, and strengthening the civil service were implemented during the period amidst the CoVID-19 pandemic.
Assessment of Performance
Public Accountability and Integrity
Transparency, accountability, and integrity are the interconnected elements to reduce corruption in all levels of governance.
Full Disclosure Policy
On August 30, 2019, the Department of the Interior and Local Government issued Memorandum Circular No. 2019-149 amending DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2013140 titled, “Implementing Guidelines on the Full Disclosure of Local Budget, Finances, Bids, and Public Offerings” to guide the local government units (LGUs). The Full Disclosure Policy (FDP) requires the LGUs to keep their constituents informed of how their respective budgets are being managed, disbursed, and used. The FDP promotes transparent and orderly management of public funds to minimize if not eradicate corruption, misuse of funds. In CY 2020, the LGUs compliance on the FDP was recorded at 55.55 percent for the provinces, cities, municipalities and about 93 percent for the barangay LGUs which is lower compared to the average compliance of 94 percent the previous year. The decrease in compliance is attributed to the late preparation and submission of reports during the quarantine period with only limited staff reporting as skeleton workforce while those working from home have limited access to stable internet connection and also since the reporting system had not yet been digitalized.
