An online public accountability dashboard may serve the purpose of helping track the use of funds and monitor the government’s response to the impact of strong El Niño, according to Senator Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan.
‘I call on the President to direct the NDRRMC [National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council], through OCD [Office of Civil Defense] and the concerned agencies, to maintain a single, coordinated El Niño action plan with named leads, measurable targets, and regular public reporting,’ the senator and chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform said in his eight-point action plan.
The senator stressed that the government must ensure that its preparations and interventions are coordinated, results-oriented, and open to public scrutiny, particularly when public funds are involved.
‘The main point of all this is: the proper use of public funds. It must be clear to the public where the money is going, what the government is doing, and how effective such responses are,’ he said, speaking mostly in Filipino.
The setting up of an online public dashboard forms part of the senator’s eight-point action plan, which also includes urging the declaration of a state of calamity or a state of imminent disaster in affected or threatened areas, as warranted under existing laws, identifying available funds, prepositioning relief supplies, providing livelihood assistance, implementing applicable price-control measures, pursuing action against hoarding and profiteering, and protecting the country’s water supply.
Last year, he made a similar push for the Farm-to-Market Road Watch Portal of the Department of Agriculture (DA) amid the flood control mess. The portal is an online transparency and monitoring platform developed to track farm-to-market road projects across the country.
The online dashboard for the strong El Niño response should provide timely updates on weather forecasts, damage assessments, water conditions, priority needs, funding allocations, supply inventories, and price-control advisories, among other critical information.
Pangilinan proposed reporting intervals of 24 hours, 48 hours, or weekly, depending on the urgency and nature of the information, to ensure that government agencies promptly disclose critical developments, resource requirements, and the progress of response efforts.
Beyond tracking resource availability, the system should also monitor the release and use of funds, the delivery of supplies, the number of households reached, the completion of farm and water-system interventions, the resolution of price complaints, and the filing of cases against those who violate the law.
He cited Section 8 of Republic Act No. 12287, or the Declaration of State of Imminent Disaster Act, which requires the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to monitor areas declared under a state of imminent disaster and concerned government agencies to report on the status of declarations at the local level, Anticipatory Action Funds and utilization, and the estimated economic and social costs minimized through anticipatory interventions.
Pangilinan proposed building on these statutory reporting requirements by establishing a publicly accessible online dashboard to consolidate information on available funds, government interventions, and the results of El Niño preparedness and response efforts.
‘As I have said, I will seek the updated funding and implementation reports before plenary and pursue oversight to ensure that commitments made during the budget hearing translate into assistance on the ground,’ he said.
Pangilinan, likewise, called on the public to remain vigilant and actively monitor the use of government funds intended to address the impact of El Niño, stressing that accountability is a shared responsibility.
‘Let us watch over the funds and see if they really go to where needed, because these are funds you all worked hard for. You must report any irregularity. Use your social media accounts to monitor and call out those who must be held liable. These are for the people, so there must be clear results and accountability by the government on how this is spent,’ he emphasized.