1. TRIPARTITE COMMISSION, BISHOPS’-ULAMA CONFERENCE (BUC), MEET

Members of the Tripartite Commission, BUC, met on 24 August 2004 at Grand Regal Hotel, Davao City.  Seven (7) of the 12 members were present. 

Businesses: (1) Mindanao Week of Peace (Nov. 25 – Dec. 05, 2004).  Theme: “A Reconciled Family, Agent of Reconciliation”.  Talks on approaches to reconciliation from the Koran and Bible. (2) Poverty Alleviation Program.  Poverty alleviation is one of the six paths to peace drawn up by the defunct

National Unification Commission (NUC) chaired by Atty. Haidee Yorac.  The NUC was created by former President Fidel Ramos within his first month in office (1992).  Funds will be given by government as grants.  (3) Amendments to the By-laws of the BUC.  Committee to draft: Bp. Felixberto Calang (NCCP), Dr. Barra (ULP) and Bp. Dinualdo Gutierrez (CBCP).

2. CITIZENS AGAINST CORRUPTION (CAC) MEET

Selected persons from NAMFREL, Bishops-Businessmen for Human Development (BBC), Makati Business Club (MBC) and NASSA-CBCP met with Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo on 25 August 2004 at the Penthouse of Del Rosario Building.

COMELEC MODERNIZATION CASE

In spite of receiving a P3.0 billion budget, the COMELEC once again failed to automate any aspect of the last elections.  The budget was originally intended for three projects: Phase I on Voter Validation (P1.0B); Phase 2 on Automated Counting (P1.7B, including ballots); and Phase 3 on Data Transmission (P300M).  phase I was never completed.  Phase 2 was stopped by the Supreme Court, but not before an P850M down payment was made; and Phase 3 became moot and academic after Phase 2 was stopped.  Nonetheless the money was expended.

The objective of this project is to support the pursuit of the Phase 2 case at the Ombudsman and to push for accountability for Phases 1 and 3.  In doing so, we hope to avoid another failure in the modernization program in the2007 elections.

Project Management: Augusto Lagman of the Information Technology

Status  : Phase 2 is ongoing at the Ombudsman and Supreme Court.  Phase 1 and 3 investigations have yet to start.

Budget: to be determined

TEXTBOOK COUNT 2

Textbook Count 2 is a project of the Department of Education in partnership with NGO to monitor the delivery of 14 million textbooks to over 5,000 public schools and school districts.  Its main objective is to ensure that the correct number of books are delivered per school district as stipulated in procurement contracts.  In its initial run last year, DepEd was able to reduce late deliveries and losses to less than 2 percent of total contracted prices and was able to implement a book delivery scheme from bidding to physical delivery in 12 months (versus the usual 18 months in the past).

Project Management: The overall coordinator is G-Watch of the Ateneo School of Government and the provincial coordinators are the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and the girl Scouts of the Philippines.  NAMFREL and over one dozen other NGOs provides volunteer monitors.

            Status: Delivery dates nationwide are staggered from July 26 – November 30, 2004.

            Budget: G-Watch receives a modest direct grant to manage the project.  DepEd also provides a budget for training and evaluation workshops.

MONITORING MEDICINE PROJECT

The monitoring Medicines Project is a joint undertaking with the Department of Health to monitor bids and awards, delivery, and inventory of selected medicines and supplies to 87 DOH-managed provincial hospitals and 15 regional centers.  The strategy is to train and certify volunteers to sit on the Bids and Awards Committees of each of these hospitals and to monitor the physical delivery of the supplies.  There will also be a post-delivery inventory check three to six months after delivery.  The objective is to ensure that medical supplies are procured at the best possible price and delivered in the right quantity and the right time in provincial and regional hospitals.  Price benchmarks and delivery dates will be made public via a website.

Project Management: The overall coordinator is NAMFREL.  Project partners will include volunteers from CBCP, CODE-NGO, BBC and others.

Status: The target date for the first training session and certification is late October or early November.  This session will involve BAC and delivery monitoring.  A second training session on inventory checking will take place in the first quarter of 2005.  Two evaluation workshops will be scheduled at the midpoint and end of the project.  The project should run for at least two years.

Budget: A budget proposal is being prepared for submission to funding agencies

PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT MONITORING

This project involves monitoring selected public works projects nationwide in terms of their construction schedules, quality, and completion.  Checklists will be developed which will enable non-technical volunteers to monitor projects.  The leading NGO in this area of work is perhaps the Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Government (CCAGG) which is the spin-off of NAMFREL-Abra.

Project Management: The overall coordinator of the project is the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines through its National Secretariat on Social Action (NASSA).

Timetable: To be determined.

Budget: To be determined.

On 21 September 2004 a Citizens Against Corruption Conference will be held at Quezon Ballroom, Makati Shangri-la Hotel.

Mr. Ramon del Rosario, Jr. is chairman of the CAC. 

Citizen Against Corruption Conference
21 September 2004
Quezon Ballroom, Makati Shangri-la Hotel
 

3. DIRECTORY, PASSIONIST NUNS (C.P. CONTEMPLATIVE)
The Passionist Nuns, Monastery of Our Lady of Hope
P.O. Box  285, Koronadal, South Cotabato
Tel. # (083) 228-2548

 Just click to read: Communications from the Bishop
 

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Revised: Friday August 27, 2004 01:41:02
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