Philippine Statement on CSO participation in the Review Process (Toix Cerna, Transparency and Accountability Network Philippines) Before

e anything else, Id like to congratulate the Chairman, the Secretariat and the states parties for providing this space for civil society organizations. Good afternoon. I want to ride this wave of optimism about civil society participation and so Id like to share how CSO participation in the review process can be a positive experience as in the case of the Philippines. I am Toix Cerna from the Philippines representing the Transparency and Accountability Network, a coalition of organizations committed to fighting corruption in the country. TAN was established in the year 2000. I am very happy to say that currently, Philippine civil society organizations have much to be hopeful for. We can hope to be real partners of government in the fight against corruption. We can count on a more mature partnership with the new Ombudsman, Conchita Carpio Morales. We can be optimistic about the current governments policy of openness. Six years ago in 2006, the Transparency and Accountability Network together with the Office of the Ombudsman campaigned for the ratification of the U.N. Convention Against Corruption by the Philippine Senate. Our partnership resulted in the campaigns success. In a bitter turn of events, however, TAN earned the ire of the Ombudsman when we criticized the Ombudsman for its questionable decision on a high profile corruption case involving top level officials. In the years that followed until 2010, TANs relations with the

Ombudsman were strained. We were no longer engaged by the Ombudsman in any of its anti-corruption efforts, including the pilot review of the UNCAC implementation in the Philippines. Today, under the leadership of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, critical civil society organizations like TAN are once again consulted, included and engaged by government. In the current review cycle of the UNCAC implementation in the Philippines, TAN was invited and consulted at the beginning of the process. We helped formulate the criteria in choosing governmental experts. We have also successfully nominated two experts from civil society to become part of the official review team. We think that the involvement of CSOs in this process will produce a report that is credible and more acceptable to the Filipino people. The current efforts of the Philippine government to re-engage civil society groups, critical and non-critical, are helping rebuild the publics trust in government. We believe that critical partnerships with government are valuable in building vibrant relations that create more responsive, transparent, accountable, and open governments. The participation of CSOs in the official review process does not only give voice to CSOs. But more importantly, it lends an additional lens the citizens perspective to government in the assessment of the states implementation of its commitments under UNCAC. And Im very glad to hear states parties mention or should I say champion the point at the very beginning of the conversation. We truly appreciate finding allies in states parties who acknowledge the important role of CSOs in the implementation review process. Thank you very much and may we all succeed in the fight against corruption.