There could be times when instead of speaking truth to power, an accountability mechanism becomes a tool of the powerful to constrain governance
His resignation shows how a person can reconcile the tension between his individual political disposition with his responsibility to a cause, a collective or a party
The Philippines as a nation-state will be strengthened with the proposed Bangsamoro solution. A nation-state is weakened whenever its monopoly over the use of legitimate violence is threatened by an armed rebellion; it is strengthened when it ends the rebellion through peace.
Accountability is achieved and sustained by creating and strengthening institutions. Institutions are strengthened through accountability efforts and practices.
In a democracy where public office is a public trust and where power emanates from the people, getting feedback on how government exercises its power from everywhere, anytime is a given. In fact, it is encouraged. Government is expected to respond and its response is expected to make it more efficient and effective.
We have advanced on so many governance reforms under the current administration, the reform of the most basic requirement of democracy, elections, continues to lag behind.
On 19 April 2014, the Transparency and Accountability Initiative and Hivos brought together funders, civil society organizations, and researchers to consider the opportunities and challenges of linking state and civil society efforts towards greater transparency and accountability (T/A). This short think piece (Strategic Dilemmas & Context FG SR) picks up on the conversation to encourage collective thinking, research and action.
'If the mechanism of our government is working towards ensuring transparency and accountability, we might not even have to do what we have been doing as a civil society organization'
If you think that Marcos was the best president we ever had, think again
Using the ways of the old to fight for the new is like becoming the enemy you want to defeat
What is change? It means something different and new that comes about from the old. It is the end of the old and the beginning of something new. Change as an objective, an end, is achieved through a variety of means and ways.
ChaCha need not be divisive. There will be differences in the position on the specific changes to be introduced. But the process, if we stay true to it and focus on the common good concerns, will make us think of the same thing: what is good for the country, what system and institutions would best serve the Filipinos?
'While the President himself emphasizes the importance of building people's trust in government, he doesn't seem to fully appreciate the role played by free access to information in building public trust'
There are 4 gaps that leave critical questions hanging and issues unresolved on the DAP controversy. This is how the decision could be wanting for non-lawyers
Yes, there is something positive too about what we are going through – and how we can harvest these gains and use them to move forward will spell the difference for reforms in the country
Governance has to be reformed and made transparent, accountable and participatory because power corrupts. And in our current system, there are many ways and mechanisms that facilitate the corruption of power. The pork system was one of them. It is easy to abuse public office. The system, in fact, has been molded so that those on top can easily use and abuse it to stay in power.
We should change our Constitution to correct the flaws and weaknesses in our political system
There is still much room for improvement in citizen participation in local education governance
The study conducted by the Philippine research team aims to baseline the organizational performance and stability of selected political parties in the Philippines. From the parties’ profiles, we extracted some comparative points that will allow elucidation on the overall picture of party performance and stability in the Philippines.