Unsealing Transparency: From Mere Compliance to Meaningful Accountability

Ariel Benipayo
Reinna Maraya Bien
Elyzabeth Cureg-Estrada
Emmanuel Emigdio Dumlao
Agnes Eva Labitag
Earl Jed Roque
Atty. Hazel Tomas

House of Representatives
Middle Managers Track
Course on Effective Policy Implementation
2025

In its bid to promote greater transparency and accountability in the government, the Aquino Administration launched the Transparency Seal policy in 2012. It required all national government agencies (NGAs) to prominently display the Transparency Seal on the agency’s homepage and upload vital information, including, agency mandates, annual procurement plan, approved budgets and targets, and budget and financial accountability reports.

This research looked into the NGAs’ compliance to the policy. Analysis conducted found drastic fluctuations in the compliance rate, with figures being as high as 100% in 2019, to as low as 18.5% in 2022. Reports published by the Department of Budget and Management also showed that only two institutions (0.6%) were able to comply with the Transparency Seal requirements for five years while 15 (4.2 percent) were totally non-compliant.

Further analysis conducted by the group revealed that two NGAs have no official websites; three did not prominently display the Transparency Seal logo; and 9 to 10% uploaded the required documents but the files were too blurred to be deemed usable.

To dig deeper into the problem, the study examined possible root causes of the NGAs’ non-compliance and identified the following issues: (1) lack of enforcement mechanisms, (2) excessive discretion on the part of the policy implements stemming from a lack of clear and guidelines, (3) lack of public participation mechanisms, and (4) threat to the continuity and sustainability of the program.

The study also proposed various policy options to address the problems faced by the Transparency Seal initiative and analyzed their viability, examining each one through the lenses of political, financial, and administrative feasibility.