By Aiza
P. Naminghit
LAGAWE, Ifugao -- In a bid to help prevent a
repeat of the pork barrel scandal allegedly pulled off by Janet Lim-Napoles,
Ifugao Representative Teddy Brawner Baguilat has called on the Senate to
prioritize action on his bill providing a system for the accreditation of
non-government organizations that receive government funds.
The House committee on
people’s participation recently approved a bill authored by Baguilat that
provides a system for the strict accreditation of NGOs and people’s
organizations eligible to receive government funds.
The “NGO Accreditation
for Government Fund Releases Act” is co-authored by, among others,
Representatives Sol Aragones, Lucy Torres-Gomez, Cresente Paez and Leonor
Gerona-Robredo.
The bill seeks to help
ensure that only legitimate NGOs, people’s organizations, civil society
organizations, with a proven track record, financial capability and deep roots
in communities will receive government funding, which will be used to implement
crucial projects such as social preparation, training and capacity building.
Baguilat said he
hoped the Senate would come up with its own version of the NGO accreditation
bill for its immediate passage into law, thus contributing to the Aquino
administration’s campaign toward greater transparency and accountability in
government.
“Such a law can then
become among the 16th Congress’ legacy laws for transparency and good
governance, aside from the Freedom of Information bill,” said Baguilat, who
filed the bill as a response to findings that the pork barrel scam involved the
funneling of government funds into dubious NGOs linked to Napoles.
In the meantime,
while waiting for the bill to become law, Baguilat urged the executive branch,
especially the Departments of Budget and Management and the Department of
Social Welfare and Development, to continue their initiatives to put in place
stricter accreditation regulations to make sure that government funds go to
where they are intended.
Baguilat
stressed that the NGO accreditation bill was needed to help remove the stigma
on legitimate NGOs who undertake much-needed projects, especially among the
poor and marginalized.
He had said that
NGOs have unfortunately been given a bad name by the Napoles scam, which
revealed that millions of pesos in taxpayer money ended up in the coffers of
fake NGOs.
He stressed that
this was “unfair” to legitimate NGOs that labor quietly and struggle mightily
to serve the sectors they work with and fill the many gaps in society left
behind by lack of adequate government presence.
With the passage
of the bill, Baguilat hoped that NGOs would not be used for evil ends.
“This bill is
meant to strengthen the efficiency of government-NGO partnership in development
by ensuring that only those NGOs that have the expertise, capability and
experience are allowed to be implementers of projects that use government
funds,” Baguilat said.
“This is not to
restrict the freedom of NGOs but rather a way to make sure that we elevate the
status of NGOs as service providers and not merely as fund conduits,” said
Baguilat, who also chairs the House Committee on Agrarian Reform.#
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