THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday rolled out a program aimed at preventing anomalies in government infrastructure projects, particularly so-called “ghost” projects.
Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman led the launch of the Digital Information for Monitoring and Evaluation (DIME) project in Pasay City, highlighting its role in promoting transparency and accountability in public spending.
“Today, everyone can look at our infrastructure projects,” she said in a speech. “Everyone can log in their inputs, whether there are ghost projects or if there are ongoing projects, whether they are complete, finished or not.”
DIME, which uses modern technologies such as satellites, drones and geotagging, will track the status, progress and activities of major government undertakings.
The initiative was first conceptualized in 2018 but only took off this year, after the order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in his July 28 State of the Nation Address to strengthen project monitoring mechanisms.
“That’s all we want to do here, to show that we, our government, are very transparent in implementing projects, and we also want to be accountable for what we do,” Ms. Pangandaman said in Filipino.
She said public participation would be a crucial component of DIME, encouraging citizens, civil society groups, and the media to use the platform to provide feedback and report irregularities. — Katherine K. Chan
Digital monitoring tool to curb ‘ghost’ projects
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