QUEZON CITY, Philippines – Building on the gains from the first phase of the Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA), the Commission on Audit (COA) launched Phase 2 of the program on Thursday, January 22, 2015, at the COA compound.

The CPA is a partnership between the COA and the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, with funding from Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Founded on the principles of constructive engagement and social accountability, the CPA brings together the COA on one hand and citizen groups/civil society organizations on the other in conducting audits of select government projects deemed “close to the hearts of the people.”

“We’ve made considerable gains in the first phase and now we are scaling up in terms of coverage. We are going out of Metro Manila and taking CPA to other places,” said COA Chairperson Maria Gracia Pulido Tan. 

In Phase 1, the CPA looked into the Department of Public Works and Highways’ flood control project in the Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela area, the Solid Waste Management Program in Quezon City, and barangay health services in Marikina City in the context of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. The audit teams came up with respective audit reports including recommendations for the improvement of said projects.

In Phase 2, audit teams will look into farm-to-market roads in Palawan and tourism roads in the Caraga region, as well as health programs in the education sector in select areas in the country.

Chairperson Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan, who is set to retire February 2, led the launch. The CPA began in November 2012, during her incumbency.

“The CPA is a testament that governance is not only the responsibility of government,” according to Pulido Tan. “All of us are citizens first, and as citizens, it is not only our right but our duty to participate in the affairs of government.”