National Budget Circular 556

National Budget Circular 556, issued by the Department of Budget and Management on January 05, 2015, reiterates compliance with Section 98 of the General Appropriations Act of FY2015. Section 98 is the Transparency Seal provision, to wit:

Sec. 98. Transparency Seal. To enhance transparency and enforce accountability, all agencies of the government, including Constitutional offices enjoying fiscal autonomy, SUCs, GOCCs, and LGUs shall maintain a transparency seal to be posted on their official websites. The transparency seal shall contain the following information: (i) the agency’s mandates and functions, name of its officials with their position and designation, and contact information; (ii) physical accountability reports, as required under N.B.C Nos. 507 and 507-A dated January 31, 2007 and June 12, 2007, respectively, financial accountability reports, as required under COA and DBM J.C No. 2013-l dated March 15, 2013,and other pertinent guidelines issued by the COA and DBM; (iii) annual reports on the status of income authorized by law to be retained and/or used and be deposited outside of the National Treasury, which shall include the legal basis for its retention and/or use, the beginning balance , income collected and its source, expenditures, and ending balance for the proceeding fiscal year; (iv) approved budget and corresponding targets immediately upon approval of this act; (v) major programs and projects categorized in accordance with the five key results areas under E.O. No. 43, s. 2011; (vi) the program or project beneficiaries as identified in the applicable special provisions; (vii) the status of implementation of said program or project and project evaluation and/or assessment reports; (viii) the annual procurement plan, contract awarded and the name of contractors/suppliers/consultants.

The respective heads of the agencies and their web administrators or their equivalent shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with this section. For this purpose, the DBM shall post on its website the status of compliance by all agencies of the government.

A Transparency Seal, prominently displayed on the main page of the website of a particular government agency, is a certificate that it has complied with the requirements of Section 98. This Seal links to a page within the agency’s website which contains an index of downloadable items of each of the above-mentioned documents.

Symbolism

A pearl buried inside a tightly-shut shell is practically worthless. Government information is a pearl, meant to be shared with the public in order to maximize its inherent value.

The Transparency Seal, depicted by a pearl shining out of an open shell, is a symbol of a policy shift towards openness in access to government information. On the one hand, it hopes to inspire Filipinos in the civil service to be more open to citizen engagement; on the other, to invite the Filipino citizenry to exercise their right to participate in governance.

This initiative is envisioned as a step in the right direction towards solidifying the position of the Philippines as the Pearl of the Orient – a shining example for democratic virtue in the region.

FPA Compliance with Sec. 98 (Transparency Seal) General Appropriations ACT FY 2015 and Inter-Agency Task Force Memorandum Circular No. 2015-1