MFI

Project Manager Mr. Roel Ian P. Blanker conducted a series of monitoring of the use of the ODK and LITS in the South Cotabato Provincial Government with PPDO’s OGP Program Assistant Ms. Doreen Vallar in January 2019. Mahintana’s commitment includes the utilization of the LITS in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the ODK in the project monitoring activities of the PPMC (Provincial Planning and Monitoring Committee).

As to date, the ODK-based project monitoring forms were already finalized by the PPDO-REM (Research, Evaluation, and Monitoring) Office and ready for use on the data gathering on March 2019. LITS was already installed in the SP Office in January 2019. An orientation is scheduled in February 2019 for the SP members and staff. Moreover, with the help of Mr. Blanker, the PIO Office in-charge of the South Cotabato website, has successfully drafted a web page integrating the charts/maps of the project monitoring results in ODK. South Cotabato Provincial Planning and Development Coordinator Ms. Jennifer Bretaña expressed her joy of the fast progress during the updating meeting.

The LITS and ODK are part of the OGP commitments for Open Legislation and Open Monitoring criteria which is rolled out by the RESOURCEGov Project.

On December 10-12, 2018, G-Watch Organization sent two of its researchers to check on and document the best replicable practices of RESOURCEGov Project. A total of 31 (Make 16, Female 15) participated in the 3-day activity. RESOURCEGov Project Coordinator Mr. Jobe C. Tubigon and Documenter Ms. Lorielyn P. Patoc escorted Ms. Maria Victoria Manlanque and Ms. Anna Margarita Bueno to project sites in South Cotabato and Sarangani. The LGUs visited were: LGU Polomolok (ODK in the MPDO and LITS in the SB Office), LGU Lambayong (ODK in the BPLO), LGU Tampakan (LITS in the SB Office), Sangguniang Panlungsod General Santos City (LITS Nook and LITS cascade in the 26 barangays), and LGU Maasim (CSO Participation in the local government). Aside from the replicable practices, the researchers found out that the success of the project also lies on the relationship between the LGUs and the project implementer.

This activity aims to document the best practices of the different EU-funded projects under its CSO-LA Programme in the country to be compiled and made into an EU Guidepiece.

RESOURCEGov Project Manager Roel Ian P. Blanker was the resource speaker during the “Appreciation Course on Maximizing Open Data Kit (ODK) and Qlik Systems for Improving Local Revenue” for the five (5) LGUs of North Cotabato assisted by the Action Against Hunger (ACF) through the Reinforcing, Instituting and Scaling up Efficient CSO-LGU Interaction Towards Enhanced Local Governance (RISE-LGU) Project. The training was held on November 28-29, 2018 at Hof Mansion Hotel, Kidapawan City. It was attended by 21 (Male 8, Female 13) participants.

ACF Head of Project Mr. Isabelo Julio “Jules” Cesar Benitez gave the welcome address, acknowledging the partnership with Mahintana Foundation, Inc. in the said activity to capacitate the LGUs under RISE-LGU Project in enhancing their revenues using the ODK and Qlik Systems. DILG Cotabato Province Outcome Manager Mr. Jay Abdillah gave a message of support saying to the participants, “You are blessed to have been invited to attend this training on these systems.” He thanked Mahintana and ACF for rolling out the ODK and Qlik Systems in Cotabato Province. Mr. Blanker was then introduced and he welcomed the participants. Mr. Blanker presented the project overview and the possible uses of ODK and Qlik.

At the end of training, the participants from Provincial Treasurer’s Office, Provincial Assessor’s Office, LGU Pres. Roxas, LGU Magpet, and LGU Antipas were able to make their own ODK-based monitoring forms and used the data of Region 13 SREs to make data visualizations in Qlik. The RISE-LGU Team and their assisted LGUs appreciated the systems for better, faster, paperless collection and aggregation of data.

RESOURCEGov 2 Team Staff Project Officer Mr. Kurt Jurgen Von D. Lumbao and Project Documenter Ms. Lorielyn P. Patoc visited LGU Banisilan, LGU Alamada and LGU Pikit to monitor their use of the Legislative Information Tracking System (LITS) on November 26, 2018. This activity was participated by 15 (Male 5, Female 10) including the SB secretaries and their respective staff.

The team first visited Banisilan SB Secretary Mr. Relly Deocampo and his staff Mr. Julius Peter Dominado. Mr. Deocampo said that they had only encoded around 30 ordinances and that they were not able to buy the hub and the LAN cables for networking more computers to the LITS’ main server. He promised to note and buy the needed materials before the year ends. After, the team went to LGU Alamada. They were received by SB staff Ms. Corazon Soriano and Ms. Maylyn Saldua. Ms. Saldua said that the she tried to install LITS to the newly bought system, however, the LITS was not successfully installed. Mr. Lumbao checked the computer’s operating system and found out that the OS didn’t meet the requirements of LITS. The project officer suggested that the computer be reformatted. The team traveled to LGU Pikit and was welcomed by SB Secretary Jaime Gornez and his staff Ms. Tifanny Cabaña. The staff told the team that she wasn’t able to encode yet. Mr. Lumbao suggested that the encoding will be done from present legislative documents backwards.

Other LGUs are scheduled to be monitored on December onwards.