September 25, 2015 – The Department of Social Welfare and Development early this year was chosen for the pilot implementation of the Integrity Management Program (IMP). The World Bank has earlier committed to fund the IMP roll-out at the five identified DSWD field offices, to include region IX. This is after being recognized as the agency that has progressed the farthest among the pilot NGAs implementing the IMP.
IMP is the national corruption prevention program of the government to generate strategic interventions in promoting integrity, enhancing government effectiveness towards building a corruption intolerant society.
‘Integrity’ as one of its core values, DSWD continuously commits to uphold good governance, transparency and accountability in the delivery of public service.
DSWD-Integrity Management Committee Vice-chair Asec. Javier Jimenez emphasized in his talk during the opening program of the IMP orientation in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte last month, that the IMP initiative rooted from the significant increase in the department’s budget allocation which is the people’s money. “Importante ang transparency and accountability dahil ang malaking budget na ibinibigay sa DSWD ay galing sa kaban ng bayan.” said Jimenez.
The said orientation-workshop gathered division chiefs, unit heads and technical staff of special programs to develop its Integrity Management Plan and formulate the field office’s Logical Framework still anchored on the department’s strategic goals.
The participants were asked to accomplish five (5) templates dealing with identification of corruption-related risks, control and integrity measures to prevent, detect and correct the identified corruption vulnerabilities in their area of responsibility.
The Integrity Management Plan for 2016 is set to be finalized before the end of the year, however the fund source which will support the implementation of all the identified control measures will be given in year 2017.
DSWD Internal Audit Director Wayne C. Belizar whose primary function is to monitor and evaluate the internal processes of the department was also present during the orientation-workshop.
“I dream of the day when there’s no more need for an internal audit in DSWD, and in other government offices, because all of us are with integrity to perform and deliver what is expected of us.” said Belizar.
Towards the end of the training, the World Bank represented by Cecille Vallez lauded DSWD for upholding and enforcing a culture of integrity in the delivery of its programs and services. As a manifestation, she cited the successful implementation of Kalahi-CIDSS program where principle of participation is practiced in program and project implementation “We are very glad because people are now participating in the procurement process which reduces the vulnerability of corruption. And we thank DSWD for being instrumental in continuously implementing Kalahi-CIDSS how it is supposed to be implemented.” ###