NGOs and State Universities form Fellowship Against Evil in Public Finance
Social Watch Philippines, the network of a hundred nongovernment organizations that initiated direct citizens’ participation in national and local budget processes through the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI), recently launched the People’s Public Finance Institute (PPFI) – National Capital Region Center at the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) Headquarters in Quezon City to fight the “evils” in the country’s public finance.
“There are times when evil in public finance seems impossible to defeat. The Supreme Court’s decision that the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) is unconstitutional is winning a portion of the battle. At the local level, even 15-year olds local officials in the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) are receiving their own pork barrels,” said former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, SWP lead convenor. “Also, we are very happy that the Bicameral Conference Committee meeting for the 2014 national budget was opened to civil society groups but this does not mean that the battle for transparency had been won. Yet, the fact that the Committee only took one hour to approve the budget means that the 2014 General Appropriations Act (GAA) was negotiated and agreed upon even before the formal Bicam meeting took place,” she added.
“These battles, among many other battles against evils in the processes of public fund management and utilization, are the essence of the People’s Public Finance Institute (PPFI),”said Isagani Serrano, SWP co-convenor and PRRM president. “Public finance is for the people. We may not be as powerful as those holding high posts in government; but there is always hope as long as we work together and form a fellowship so that more can join our forces,” he said.
SWP’s People’s Public Finance Institute is a center that educates the general public, civil society organizations and individuals on national and local public finance processes working under the framework of citizens’ participation. It offers courses on Participation in Local Revenue Administration, Local Budgeting, Local Expenditures Monitoring, Local Procurement Process and Audit of Local Government Funds.
“The PPFI curriculum simplifies complexities and intricacies in a manner accommodating, receptive and accessible to citizens. It does not deal extensively on theories and complicated formulas and calculations,” said Jessica Cantos, SWP lead convenor and president of Action for Economic Reforms (AER).
There are also PPFI Centers in the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur and Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. There are also a number of officials, professors and extension workers in various State and Private Universities and Colleges around the country who already pledged to establish PPFI Centers in their campuses. This includes Bukidnon State University in Bukidnon, Mindanao State University in Iligan, and Central Philippine University in Iloilo.
“We want education that frees the people. Through PPFI, we will promote education that empowers citizens to directly influence decisions on resources that come from them,” said SWP Co-Convenor Rene Raya.