Filipinos can now use a crowd sourcing online tool to monitor the progress of all rehabilitation projects in Yolanda affected areas.
The Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) launched yesterday a website that tracks down reconstruction projects done by both by the private sector and the national government.
Rehabilitation Sec. Panfilo Lacson, Rehabilitation Usec. Lesley Cordero and other OPARR members briefed Cebu mayors on the new online tool during their post-Yolanda rehabilitation roadshow in Cebu City.
The website is part of the Electronic Management Platform: Accountability and Transparency Hub for Yolanda (eMPATHY), a project undertaken by the OPARR with other tech companies for free.
Lacson said the database is available for anyone to check and can help the public and the media act as watchdogs to ensure transparency in the rehabilitation efforts.
Public user
Under the setup, national government agencies and local government units (LGUs) will be asked to provide complete data of completed and ongoing Yolanda-related projects.
LGUs have to upload quarterly reports to OPARR to update the status of their projects, Lacson said.
Those who want to access the database can log in as a “public user” at the address www.empathy.oparr.gov.ph while local government units (LGUs) will be assigned user accounts to update the site.
Details of the project such as funding source, timetable and its contractor will be available online, Lacson said.
Dependent
“When in the website, it says completed but on the ground, it is not then report it to us so we can take action. That’s how it works. We need the media, we need the public to monitor the projects on the ground,” Lacson said.
He said the concept can be replicated and applied to all the projects of the national government in the future.
Cordero said the project marks the first time that all concerned agencies agreed to provide their data to a single, uniform database.
“The success of this system is dependent on the government agencies who will be uploading, our LGUs who will be reporting and our citizens in media to check if the system is working or not,” she said.
Cordero said OPARR assigned a provincial coordinator for Cebu province alone to monitor the progress reports of the LGUs in northern Cebu.
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