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Events Calendar Tabs
On 9-11 March 2023, the G-Watch Center will hold a learning exchange with Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipinong Pantawid (SNPP) in Baguio City. A national organization of beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), SNPP was formed alongside the successful campaign to pass the 4Ps Law with SNPP leaders being at the forefront of the campaign.
An awareness-raising campaign of Government Watch (G-Watch) began in 2012, Ako, Ikaw, Tayo, May Pananagutan (AIM-P) is undertaken by its sites and partners to promote the importance of accountability in improving governance and advancing democracy.
Now on its fifth straight year, AIM-P 2023 has the theme “More Pananagutan sa Post-Pandemic Pilipinas,” which aims to create awareness on the importance of strengthening accountability to improve governance in the delivery of basic services, such as education and health, as the country transitions to the new normal.
2nd National Learning Exchange with Accountability Frontliners
Iloilo City | 6-9 January 2022
Government Watch (G-Watch), in cooperation with Accountability Research Center (ARC), is undertaking an initiative to learn with, from and for accountability frontliners. Entitled Accountability Frontliners Learning Initiative (AFLI) in the Philippines, the aim of the said effort is to reflect, learn, document and share the innovative, adaptive and/or effective approaches employed by G-Watch during the pandemic.
In September this year, Government Watch (G-Watch) marks its 22nd anniversary. Established in 2000 in the wake of EDSA Dos and Joseph Estrada’s removal from the presidency, G-Watch began as the governance program of a university. Meant as a response to the plethora of corruption scandals involving senior government officials, Government Watch began one of the country’s earliest attempts at social accountability—training hundreds of citizen-volunteers to monitor the delivery of various public services.
G-Watch localities
The start of the new administration once again brings up the question of what should be the role of civil society in the country’s development and governance. In the recent decades, Philippine civil society has championed advancing transparency, participation and accountability (TPA) reforms in governance, arguing it’s an effective and responsive solution to inefficiencies and corruption in government as well as a way to promote human rights and ensure citizen entitlements.
G-Watch views the upcoming polls in 2022 as an extremely important terrain that has to be engaged, and that would complement other accountability efforts that are being undertaken before, after and beyond elections. In this light, G-Watch is undertaking a citizenship education initiative that aims to Make Elections an Accountability Platform (MEAP).
When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, the world stood still. The ill-preparedness of the Philippine national government to handle a pandemic as huge as COVID-19 was very clear from the onset. The country’s health workers ended up taking most of the brunt of the pandemic because they were at the frontlines. Yet, health workers persevered to provide the badly needed health care and assistance to the people, especially those who were sick.
Accurate, verifiable, complete and clear information is a pre-requisite of accountability. It is a potent tool for citizens to hold power to account. Even in the accountability field, there is the notion of ‘clear’ and ‘opaque’ transparency, and it is clear transparency that likely leads to ‘hard’ accountability.
The next national election is once again just around the corner. With the COVID-19 crisis, there are a lot of uncertainties in today’s politics and governance. For sure the 2022 polls will be very different given the ongoing health crisis.
While health threats will be a new critical concern that will change the way we campaign and vote, the continuing and worsening threats to democratic processes and values are issues that would also have to be confronted as we prepare for the 2022 elections.
Usapang Pananagutan: The Role of State Audit Institutions in Making COVID-19 Funds Accountable
Usapang Pananagutan is G-Watch's e-discussion series that aims to serve as a continuing platform for policy actors to discuss the state of accountability in the Philippines and identify ways to strengthen accountability in government.
Join us in our first session entitled "The Role of State Audit Institutions in Making COVID-19 Funds Accountable" on September 15, 2021 at 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM.
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Multiply-Ed Team Conducts 2nd Learning Collaborative on Youth-Led Advocacy, Communications and Engagement
To keep the momentum after a successful round of Briefing Orientation Seminars, Multiply-Ed’s national team went on to conduct their second Learning Collaboration (LC) on vertical integration (VI) in Batanes last July 8-13, 2024.
Ms. Joy Aceron set the tone for the second iteration of the LC on VI, by discussing the rationale of such sessions as a deliberate and systematic effort to learn and strategize.
“Multiply-Ed,” Aceron pointed, “is geared to be the prime example of VI’s potential for scale and replicability.”
PRO-Health presents monitoring findings to central health department
G-Watch held a national-level problem-solving session with the Department of Health (DoH) last June 19 at the DoH Central Office to initially discuss and address the findings and recommendations of PRO-Health.
Present were DoH officials and staff from
Multiply-Ed and PRO-Health join forces to convene the Mindanao Youth Assembly for Mental Health
More than 100 hundred student-leaders and mental health advocates were convened last June 4 in Davao City to take on the worsening situation of mental health crisis in the country.
G-Watch opens draft health reform agenda for public comments and feedback
PRO-Health or Promoting Rights Organizing for Health is a health organizing initiative of the Government Watch (G-Watch) and Accountability Research Center (ARC) in partnership with several civil society groups and local governments.
Multiply-Ed Phase 2 begins, Tools for the 2nd Round of Nationwide School-Level Monitoring Pilot-Tested in Pasig
Multiply-Ed Phase 2 is officially on the move at all levels of public education governance!
G-Watch Conducts Health Budget Monitoring Workshop
Last February 14 to 16, 2024, Government Watch (G-Watch) held a Briefing Orientation Seminar (BOS) on Health Budget Monitoring with its PRO-Health partners-organizations. The event gathered more than 30 participants from ten national and Greater Manila Area-based organizations.
G-Watch co-drafts and signs the UNCAC CoSP10 - Atlanta Civil Society Declaration
Government Watch (G-Watch) attends the 10th Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption happening in Atlanta, Georgia on December 11-15. G-Watch is represented by its Convenor-Director, Joy Aceron, who has been engaging the UNCAC for over a decade now, and Francis Isaac, G-Watch researcher and San Beda College Alabang professor.
In the conference, G-Watch participated in the first-ever CSO Forum and in the discussion on political financing, corruption in health, civic space, gender and corruption and approaches to fighting corruption.
G-Watch Convenor-Director Joy Aceron Recognized for Championing CCT Beneficiaries
Joy Aceron was recently recognized by the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilyang Pantawid (SNPP) for her valuable contribution in advancing the interests of the more than 4.4 million beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program (CCT). Aceron received the recognition during SNPP’s 7th year anniversary held last November 27 in Mandaluyong City.
#UnitedAgainstCorruption: G-Watch’s Citizen Action for Accountability
December 9 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Day of Anti-Corruption. For this year, G-Watch is sharing the video recording of its Convenor-Director Joy Aceron’s two-part interview from Far Eastern University’s Public Intellectual Series conducted in 2019.
Multiply-Ed Conducts TPA Workshops for School Governance Councils
Multiply-Ed (X-Ed), an accountability initiative on education by the Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN) and Government Watch (G-Watch), has initiated a series on workshops on transparency, participation and accountability (TPA) involving members of the selected School Governance Councils (SGC) all over the country.