Angara wants full disclosure of all foreign consultants in govt...

Senator Edgardo Angara today batted for transparency and accountability in government offices especially in operations that are of public interest, such as the 2010 poll automation plan which is now being feared not to push through.

Angara has filed Senate Bill 900 or the Foreign Consultants’ Diclosure bill which seeks to require all branches and agencies of government, including government-owned and controlled corporations and their subsidiaries to disclose the identity of their foreign consultants, the nature of their work and their compensation, perks and other privileges.

Angara, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, explained that it is public's basic right to know who are providing expert advice and support to the government.

He said that the public should be appraised if the services for which the consultants are being sought are indeed indispensable and cannot be rendered by our local experts, and that the public, who are the main contributors to our nation's coffer, must be informed of the money being spent to pay consultants hired by the Government.

“This bill asks for a transparent transaction between the government and foreign consultants,” said angara, the primary author of the Procurement Reform Act, as well the ombudsman law. [top]