Gov’t to launch updated Foreign Aid Transparency Hub

Video by NOY MORCOSO lll/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Hoping to finally answer the question where the millions of dollars of foreign aid went, the government announced Thursday that it would launch a major update of the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (Faith) website that tracks pledges of assistance from foreign governments.

Updates to the website will provide clearer, more detailed and accurate information on how much foreign aid has been given by foreign governments and where these were channeled, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press conference Thursday.

“In the first version, we do not have the capability to identify pledges of assistance that go to [the foreign government’s] own organizations or any multilateral organizations. For instance we do not track a donation given to the United Nations or Philippine Red Cross,” Lacierda said.

“In version two, we have asked the diplomatic corps to identify to us, apart from their donations to government, their donations as well to their own network of organizations,” he said.

With the version two of the website, members of the diplomatic corps will be given access to the site so they can input the amount of donations they have given and whether it was given directly to local government units, government agencies, or to non-government organizations.

Representatives of the various foreign governments will also be asked to put a value on their non-cash donations, such as medical assistance, to ensure that all foreign aid will be accurately reflected.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will provide them usernames so they will be able to input the data, in terms of updating their foreign pledges of assistance,” Lacierda said.

“[They will be asked to indicate] where they will channel their donations, what’s the status of their foreign pledges of assistance, has it been converted either to cash or to non-cash,” he said.

The new site will also list down the amounts the government has received and coursed through the different agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and especially aid  given directly to Local Government Units (LGUs).

“We want to make sure that the foreign governments’ donations are fairly reported [and] we want to make sure the people are informed where their donations are going,” Lacierda said.

Currently, the Faith website indicates that the total pledges of foreign aid is P25.8 billion ($578 million) but the current “cash received by government” is at P643 million ($13 million).

Lacierda noted that some diplomats have complained because the information on the website does not reflect the amount of aid they have given.

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