Public fiscal accountability has yet to be entrenched in the Philippines. This may be largely due to a combination of policy and capacity factors that hinder-rather than strengthen-public fiscal accountability. These include: the redefinition of who can hold public officials and institutions accountable; the lack of well-defined, uniform, clear and publicly available rules and principles for fiscal management and control evident in the use of savings and in the manner of liquidating public money; limited legislative powers, pork barrel politics and the absence of adequate scrutiny and control over public money; and the doctrine of executive privilege, coupled with the absence of a freedom of information law. Public accountability may be extracted before the different accountability institutions, which include the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Audit, the Commission on Elections, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission on Human Rights. Public fiscal accountability also involves identifying human rights deprivations suffered as a result of fiscal actions and decisions. This may entail a variety of non-formal accountability modalities, including, among others, fiscal policy reform, advocacy and social mobilization, capacity development, and the like.