DILG-CODE-NGO partners in improving governance in LGUs

Citizen participation is key to government’s Bottom-Up Budgeting program - Roxas

By Angelica Katheryn Carballo

President Benigno

Simeon Aquino III

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas III announced on Wednesday that the promise of the President Benigno ‘Noynoy” Aquino III of a more transparent and participative government will be realized through the Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) process that is already being implemented in pilot  municipalities in the Philippines.

Speaking in front of around 250 non-government organizations during the 5^th Congress and 20^th year anniversary of the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE NGO) held at the Ateneo de Manila University, Roxas said that citizen-government partnership should be encouraged through constructive engagement.

DILG Secretary Manuel

Roxas III(Photo by JC)

“For a government to be successful, we should harness the power of the people and encourage partnership with the citizenry,” Roxas said.

He said the BUB will help in making the budget work “where work needs to be done”.

The BUB process is the localization of anti-poverty initiatives through active and meaningful citizen’s participation in the planning of the government budget.

The first phase of the BUB identified 600 municipalities and cities where civil society organizations collaborated with government agencies and local government units to craft the 2013 national budget.

This process ensures that government funds will work in areas that are really needed to boost poverty reduction and development projects and activities.

“We have limited funds, so we want to make sure that these will go to projects that match the actual needs of the citizens” Roxas added.

Roxas also said that the Aquino government is very receptive and even encourages constructive engagement and even challenged the NGOs to ‘test the limits of engagement in the government’.

“Sabi nga, malapit na tayo sa kusina, andito na tayo sa kusina, ano na ang gagawin natin?” Roxas asked the participants.

“We challenge you to speak up, don’t be frightened, ngayong andito na tayo sa kusina, wala namang masisira, wala namang mababasag,” the DILG secretary said, saying that the government needs all the inputs it can get from the CSOs in order to ‘cook good and nutritious food in the kitchen’.

Roxas also announced that the second phase of the BUB process will involve more than 1,200 municipalities and cities, which is almost double the number of the municipalities and cities involved in the initial phase.

In October 2012, CODE-NGO forged a memorandum of agreement with DILG, then headed by the late Secretary Jesse Robredo, together with Transparency and Accountability Network Inc. (TAN) and Task-Force Participatory Local Governance which aims to pursue effective mobilization of CSOs as strategic partners of DILG in promoting responsible and accountable governance.

“By working together, civil society and government would be able to come up with solutions and mechanisms to make sure that taxpayers’ money is spent wisely and effectively,” CODE-NGO Executive Director Donato Macasaet said in a statement.

Eric Galvin, Attache to the European Union and representatives of CODE NGO signed the partnership agreement on Citizen’s Participation in Monitoring LGU performance and Development Planning on Poverty Reduction (Citizen’s MLPD-PR). National Anti-Poverty Commission lead convener Joel Rocamora also witnessed the signing of the agreement.

The partnership will undertake and support appropriate Local Anti-Poverty Planning (LAPP) and budgeting in 24 poor municipalities in the Philippines towards improving the LGU governance and service delivery particularly in agriculture and health.