The Philippines is one of only four countries in the world that has demonstrated an "adequate" level of accountability in its early coronavirus disease (COVID-19) fiscal policy response, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. disclosed Monday night, May 31.

Out of 120 countries, the Philippines was among the best performers on the Global Scorecard for Accountability of the International Budget Partnership (IBP), noted Galvez. IBP is an independent and non-profit corporation that advocates for transparent, inclusive, and accountable government budget processes to improve governance and reduce global poverty.

"Because of your strong resolve to avoid corruption in the procurement of our vaccines, the Philippines is rated as one of the top in the Global COVID-19 on International Budget Partnership results on global scorecard for accountability," Galvez said during Duterte's "Talk to the People" public address.

Aside from the Philippines, the three other countries that were given the adequate tag were Australia, Norway, and Peru. The rapid assessment survey conducted by the IBP covered the period of March to September 2020.

The survey used a set of 26 new indicators developed by international bodies to examine transparency, public participation, and oversight of emergency fiscal policy packages introduced by governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

In particular, the Philippines was assessed based on its transparency measures, extent of public engagement, and oversight powers over its fiscal measures as implemented under the Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, the DBM said.

The main findings of the survey showed that the pandemic caused an "extensive pressure" on governments around the world to adopt to extraordinary fiscal measures in response to the health crisis and the ensuing economic crisis. This resulted to about two-thirds of countries to providing limited or minimum levels of accountability in the formulation of their fiscal policy responses.

"Nevertheless, the pratices of publishing and submitting weekly reports to the Congress and the conduct of public consultations on COVID-19 response policies and programs through the 'Dagyaw 2020: Open Government Virtual Town Hall Meetings,' among others were lauded by the IBP," the DBM said.

Galvez said the feat was achieved despite the existence of "fake news" on the response of the government.

"This report by the DBM showed that we really report developments to the Congress and the distribution of financial assistance under the Bayanihan 1 was transparent as well as our reports to the public through the 'Talk to the People.' Other countries see us as very transparent in our COVID-19 response despite the occurrence of fake news," he said.