Baguio City joins ‘open government’ bandwagon

BAGUIO CITY —  The Baguio City government is willing to be among the models of Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s Executive Order No. 31 on June 20, 2023 institutionalizing the co-creation of collaborative solutions to public problems.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Budget and Management and the Philippine Information Agency launched the OG Pinas last Tuesday in Baguio City clustering participants from the government, academe, civil society organizations and other groups from Regions I, II, III and CAR.
 
PIA reported that OGP seeks to raise awareness about the PH-OGP, especially at the local level. It also seeks to provide avenues and more channels of communication for government-civil society partnerships and strengthen public participation in policy-making and governance in the country.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said that his administration has always been supportive of inclusive and sustainable development, thus encouraging youth groups and civil society organizations in committees and decision-making bodies of the city as part of his Good Governance campaign.

He said that the utilization of social media platforms in information dissemination has also been a catalyst in the city government’s transparency of projects and plans therefore boosts citizen participation.
 
His administration's seven-point development agenda is also in line with OGP's direction to promote integrity, accountability and social innovation, enabled by the use of new technologies.

Being an OGP model provides LGUs verifiable means of reform credentials with incentivized training in the development of local action plans that address local and national issues.

OGP has been launched simultaneously in other parts of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

It was formed by 76 countries, 104 local governments and more than 3000 civil society organizations since 2011 aimed at developing and implementing concrete commitments to advance open government.