S. Cotabato gets ADB support to promote good governance

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The provincial government of South Cotabato is working on the expansion of its flagship program that promotes integrity and transparent governance through support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes said Tuesday she met with ADB officials in Manila last week to discuss engagements for the implementation of open governance initiatives.   

She said the province had applied and passed the bank's assessment for inclusion into its open governance program.

During the meeting, Fuentes said ADB officials introduced the local government to possible funding for non-government organizations.

"We're the only province in the whole country that passed because of our experience in implementing our integrity program," she said.

The governor was referring to the two-year-old South Cotabato for Integrity and Jobs or i-South Cotabato program.   

The program was an offshoot of the rollout in the province in 2014 of the European Union (EU)-supported Partnership for Integrity and Jobs Project or Project I4J

Its implementer, Konrad Adenaeur Stiftung (KAS), had chosen South Cotabato as among the eight pilot areas in the country.

Co-funded by the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through KAS, Project I4J focuses on the development of integrity mechanisms and business promotion procedures in all its pilot areas through the help of the private and business sectors.

Fuentes said the incoming partnership with the ADB will mainly boost the local government's efforts to mainstream the program in the province's 10 towns and lone city.

She said it will also complement with the province's engagements with the EU Chamber of Commerce on the expansion of the integrity program.

"These are centered on the building of mechanisms for good governance, then investors will really come in," she said.

Fuentes said they expect the entry of more investments from the EU and other countries once the program is fully institutionalized.     

She said the key result is producing local government systems that are free of corruption and red tape, "which investors really want to see." (PNA)