EO institutionalizing open government partnership signed

MANILA, Philippines — Citing the need to strengthen the engagement of government and non-government reform advocates in societal concerns, President Marcos has signed an executive order institutionalizing the Philippine Open Government Partnership.

“The Philippine Open Government Partnership has evolved into a vital platform for introducing governance reforms through harnessing technology, creating synergy with CSOs (civil society organizations), and mainstreaming these innovations in various levels of government,” Marcos said in EO 31, dated June 20.

He noted that the Philippines has endorsed a high-level open government declaration and committed itself to co-create with civil society groups a national action plan anchored on transparency, accountability, citizen participation and technology and innovation.

The EO institutionalizes the Philippine Open Government Partnership as a “multi-stakeholder partnership” responsible for overseeing and implementing the Philippines’ commitments to the OGP.

The partnership, through its steering committee, will ensure that “open government values” are embedded in government policies and programs.

The committee will be composed of representatives from the government and civil society and will act as a policy and decision-making body for the partnership.

The Department of Budget and Management secretary will serve as the chair of the committee, which will be composed of the Executive Secretary; the chiefs of the National Economic and Development Authority, secretaries of the Departments of the Interior and Local Government and of Social Welfare and Development; four government sector representatives identified by the chair as non-permanent members; the national president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, and 10 civil society representatives.