The Bantay Kita Network is implementing the second half of a two-year project to institutionalize equitable and sustainable policies for the oil and mining industries in the Philippines. Bantay Kita is using RWI support to:

• Compile a report based on the results of research carried out in 2010 identifying the main stakeholders and levels of transparency in the mining sectors of eight regions. The report is being translated into three major dialects and disseminated to the general public through local forums and a national conference.
• Organize multi-stakeholder meetings in ten towns for participants to learn to advocate for improved transparency procedures from companies and local governments. In 2010 Bantay Kita held such meetings in two towns.
• Carry out research to enlarge the network’s knowledge base, adding the oil and gas sectors and small-scale mining projects to its current expertise in the mining sector and large-scale mining projects. 

During the first year of the project, Bantay Kita formulated its organizational policies, hired personnel and established a secretariat. The network also organized twelve multi-stakeholder meetings to broaden the constituency for adopting transparency mechanisms and organized advocacy and networking events.

Although the oil and mining industries in the Philippines are rapidly developing, there is a lack of transparency for budget information and contracts between the government and extraction companies disproportionately favor  industry interests. 

The Bantay Kita Network was created as a result of meetings that RWI held during a trip to the Philippines in 2009 with a broad range of civil society groups, including anti-mining groups and pro-transparency groups that had previously not collaborated with each other.