This 2026, amid the need for louder calls and more resolute actions against corruption, Government Watch (G-Watch) calls on everyone to:
Speak Out Against Corruption!
Complain about Government Inefficiencies!
Feedback on Good Work and New Solutions!
The use of one’s voice is an indispensable element to stop abuse and correct errors in public service. This is a guaranteed right. We have the right of free speech and freedom of association. There is absolutely no reason people cannot speak out when a wrong is being committed, especially by people who are entrusted with powers and resources of the government. In fact, it is every person’s responsibility to speak up, complain about and call out wrongdoings of those in public office. This is the true meaning of ‘public office is a public trust.’
In our work in G-Watch, we have seen how citizens and public officials, especially those at the lower levels of government, bite their tongue and keep quiet out of fear of reprisal, because they have no support and because they believe nothing good will happen anyway. This is the foundation of impunity. Fascistic policies and actions of the government in the past years have made our land fertile for corruption and impunity. Power corrupts when people stop speaking truth to power. Power corrupts absolutely and perpetually—a situation of total impunity where the powerful who abuse and corrupt get away with it—when people are unable and/ or are not willing to use their voice to call out wrongdoings. This ends now.
Our tools, spaces and more
We have the right to information. Let us use it, so our voices will be informed. An informed voice is a powerful voice. We have guaranteed participatory spaces, such as multisectoral bodies at the national level down to the barangays. Let us occupy these spaces to make our positions on issues heard. Let us reform them so they are not tokenistic and allow true sharing of power between citizens and government.
Let us set up and make use of existing feedback and reporting portals and grievance redress mechanisms. Let us organize peoples, sectors, communities more at all levels to consolidate our voices and come up with pro-people solutions to systemic problems. We know by lessons of the past and evidence from research we took part in that strategic approaches to accountability deliver better results.
Amid the scandalous flood control scandal, voices of dissent, truth-telling, whistleblowing, and complaining must be supported and those who try to curtail it must be swiftly punished. We need to normalize and enable complaining against corruption and abuse.
Our country has been stuck in solving age-old problems. To find new ideas, invent new solutions and create something new to replace the rotten old, there should be an enabling environment where free speech from the ground up is supported to reach new heights. Curtailment and repression of free speech must be punished and sanctioned severely. Ideas to solve collective problems, including those critical of the status quo and the business-as-usual, must be allowed to be raised, discussed and further developed. Only if we “let a thousand flowers bloom” that we can stop regressing in our nation-building and address how we got stuck in the first place.
Our culture supports the fight against corruption, not curtail it
Our cultural values of wanting pakikisama (smooth interpersonal relationship), respeto and hiya have been accused of justifying or condoning corruption. This is not right. These exact cultural values can be our strength in fighting corruption.
Because we are magkababayan, magkakaibigan and magkakasama, we should be able to call out each other on any wrongdoings in our midst. Let us use our capital built pakikisama over time to engage in the needed difficult discussions to correct the wrong.
Let us engage in difficult dialogues with kindness and respect while not forgetting that we owe the people and our country what is right. Let us bank on hiya for each one to do the right thing. For not doing what is right in bits and pieces would accumulate to the level we see now—trillions of pesos lost to plunder.
Let us use our songs, our fiestas, our dances, our poems and our everyday encounters to build a culture intolerant of corruption and abuse and that fosters the common good and general welfare. Let’s reclaim what it means to be part of a whole, of a community, a bansa that we care for and that cares for us.
Let our cultural traits strengthen our dignity as a people. Our culture is not developed on the basis of selfish interests and kanya-kanya. Our national consciousness that granted us the right and power to name our own culture and systems has been forged on the premise of collective heroism or bayanihan. Let us never forget that.
There is dignity in our common voice
We, as a people, must rediscover our voice, our dignity and our conviction. We know what is right and wrong. We know what to expect from governments and those holding power that people entrusted to them and that affect us. Let us demand what those in power owe us and our country. If they do not deliver and if instead power is abused, let us use our voice to stop abuse. Abuse cannot and should not happen on our watch!
There is power in the truthful voice of one, but there is greater power in the voice of the many. If coupled with collective action, it can withstand the powerful forces of corruption and impunity that are bankrupting our country, keeping our nation from achieving progress and sustainable development. Our society is better than this!
This is our country. Ako, ikaw, tayo may pananagutan (all of us have the accountability) to make our country free from corruption and achieve good governance and sustainable development. We can do that through our collective voices and actions. We can achieve a better Philippines if we:
Speak Out Against Corruption!
Complain about Government Inefficiencies!
Feedback on Good Work and New Solutions!
G-Watch’s Ako Ikaw Tayo May Pananagutan Awareness-Raising Activities
In February this year, as an annual activity, there will be events in G-Watch local sites all over the country to create public awareness on accountability, particularly amplifying the call against corruption articulated in the concept note above.
In each of the event, the G-Watch approach to anti-corruption will be presented with updates on the flood control plunder. The G-Watch Creed will be recited/ presented as well.
The goal is to reach out to a broad audience, so media will be engaged and there will be social media postings using the hashtags:
- #SpeakOutAgainstCorruption
- #ComplainBadGovernance
- #FeedbackWorks
- #AkoIkawTayoMayPananagutan
- #AIMP2026
- #Pananagutan2026
- #GWatcherForever
For more info, contact G-Watch.
government_watch@yahoo.com | +63-917-186-0298 | +632-7796-9922
Website: www.g-watch.org
Facebook: @gwatch.ph
Twitter: @gwatch_ph
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