Governance focus pushed

A GROUP of former senior state officials, some described as “prospective Cabinet secretaries” in the next administration, yesterday proposed a “good governance agenda” to implement President-elect Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino’s campaign vow to fight corruption.

Mr. Aquino will do well to require strategic plans and transparency programs from all state agencies, firm up private-public sector coalitions, and encourage ordinary citizens’ participation in this effort, the Former Senior Government Officials (FSGO) — described by the invitation sent by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) as being composed of “some…individuals who may be the next Cabinet secretaries in the Aquino Administration” — said in their proposal which was publicly presented yesterday at the Manila Elks Club in Makati City.

Jesus P. Estanislao, Finance secretary under the late former President Corazon C. Aquino, mother of the President-elect, is chairman of ISA and of FSGO’s Governance Cluster.

The new administration should likewise target a higher 8% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 and 2016, and complement this with a goal of halving the proportion of the population under the poverty line “by 2016,” the FSGO said.

“President-elect Noynoy Aquino ran on a platform of anti-corruption. That’s great in a political campaign, but that has to be translated into a good governance program,” Mr. Estanislao said at the document’s launch.

It was drafted after consultations with some 30 members of the group and had already been presented to Mr. Aquino, Mr. Estanislao told BusinessWorld at the sidelines of the event.

Mr. Aquino and his spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

The proposed agenda recommended three “catalytic acts.”

“Our newly elected president should catalyze our people’s mobilization and involvement. [He should] call all citizens to join him in a national movement for responsible citizenship,” said the FSGO.

The second more specific prescription was for Mr. Aquino to “call upon all national government agencies… and all local government units to formulate and execute a good governance program.”

Such a strategy should include each agency’s envisioned contribution by 2016, when Mr. Aquino’s term ends, key steps to meet this goal, and targets for the public to monitor.

The third cornerstone is for Mr. Aquino to formalize “multi-sector governance coalitions” and thus strengthen public-private sector partnerships, FSGO said.

These groups will take the lead in holding state agencies accountable for their programs and targets, the FSGO explained.

This emphasis on good governance could be the unifying framework of the administration’s six-year plan, as it will provide an “enabling environment” that will allow agencies to meet other goals such as an annual GDP growth of 8% towards the end of Mr. Aquino’s term.

This growth target should be doable by 2015 and 2016, Mr. Estanislao said.

Good governance will also allow state agencies to, among others, address poverty and meet 90% of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in six years, instead of by 2015 as originally committed. A government tally as of last February showed that only 13 out of 47 indicators of the eight MDGs had a “high pace of progress” towards meeting the 2015 deadline.

“We have been very critical of misgovernance in the past few years,” Mr. Estanislao said.

The group had been formed during outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term and had recently spoken out against her “midnight appointments” of officials to key positions.

“But fortunately, we now have a fresh start,” Mr. Estanislao said. –JESSICA ANNE D. HERMOSA, Reporter, BUsinessworld