Citizen Participation in Local Government (PH0056)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Philippines Action Plan 2019-2022
Action Plan Cycle: 2019
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Budget and Management (DBM)
Support Institution(s): National Government Agencies and Local Government Units United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Paulina Lawsin Nayra PhilDHRRA
Policy Areas
Capacity Building, Civic Space, E-Government, Fiscal Openness, Freedom of Association, Gender, Legislation & Regulation, Marginalized Communities, Public Participation, Public Participation in Budget/Fiscal Policy, Social Accountability, SubnationalDescription
What is the problem the commitment will address?
The legal framework in the Philippines is conducive to citizen participation in governance. The country is host to thousands of non-government organizations that are already engaging with the government at the national and local level, in different phases of the governance cycle. Articles II, X, and XIII of the 1987 Constitution put emphasis to the promotion and protection of the rights of the people and civil society organizations and platforms for "effective and reasonable participation at all levels of social, political and economic decision-making." The Local Government Code of 1991 and the annual General Appropriations Act also supports and highlights the need to provide spaces and appropriate policies for citizen engagement in governance at the local level.
However, a number of civil society and even government stakeholders have raised that the spirit of these legal frameworks, laws, and policies are not adequately reflected in actual practice, or if so, the outputs and outcomes of meaningful citizen engagement are not adequately and appropriately documented and/or measured.
Despite the establishment of various local, regional and national structures and mechanisms to promote and mainstream meaningful citizen engagement in governance, recent policy discussions, stakeholder consultations, and several studies in this governance area have identified the following governance gaps between policy issuance and effective policy implementation both at the national and local levels of government:
1. There is a weak system in documenting citizens participation in national and local governance;
2. The use of technology in governance, particularly in the area of citizens engagement, is not fully maximized;
3. There is a need for providing more platforms to inform the citizens of the state of local governance in their respective local governments
While there is recognition of the accomplishments of government in promoting transparency and establishing functional citizen feedback mechanisms, global governance data on corruption and participatory governance indicate persistence of corruption and shrinking space for civil society as continuing main challenges to the promotion of genuine democracy in the Philippines.
To address these challenges, existing open and participatory governance mechanisms need to be designed and implemented in such a way that it can lead to more concrete and transformative outcomes
What is the commitment?
The commitment is mainly to strengthen citizen participation in governmental process. This shall be attained through various initiatives on improving local governance and fiscal openness program being implemented under the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Budget and Management.
In particular, the commitment shall contribute to addressing the public problem identified above by way of the following:
1. Issuance and implementation of National policy on civil society participation in governance;
2. Implementation of Civic Technology for Governance Innovations through Citizen Feedback System (Development Live);
3. Conduct of Town Hall Meetings (Regional, Provincial and Municipal Level)
4. Oversee local governments in promoting the establishment and operation of people’s and non-governmental organizations
The commitment implementation will advance all OGP values of access to information, public accountability, civic participation, and leveraging technology for better governance.
The commitment shall support the fulfillment of the major milestones set in the PGC Resolution No. 1 s. 2019. In particular, this commitment shall contribute to the achievement of the following governance priorities:
1. Ensuring that a portion of the National and Local Budget is intended to support the participation of citizens and civil society in various governance initiatives;
2. Issuance of a National Policy on Civil Society Engagement in Governance;
3. Enforcement of NGA and LGU compliance to pertinent provisions of existing laws related to peoples’ participation in governance; and
4. Implementation of Civic Technology initiatives in government at the National and Local level.
See Action Plan for milestone activities.
Commitments
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Citizen Participation in Local Government
PH0056, 2019, Capacity Building
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Participation in Local Tourism Development
PH0057, 2019, Capacity Building
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Basic Education Inputs Program
PH0058, 2019, Capacity Building
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Open Data Portal
PH0059, 2019, Access to Information
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Participatory Monitoring of Infrastructure Projects
PH0060, 2019, Capacity Building
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Implement EITI
PH0061, 2019, Access to Information
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Passage of Freedom of Information Law
PH0062, 2019, Access to Information
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Labor Inclusivity and Dispute Resolution
PH0063, 2019, Access to Justice
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Participatory Children's Health and Nutrition Program
PH0064, 2019, Gender
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Indigenous Representation in Local Legislative Councils
PH0065, 2019, E-Government
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Open Contracting Data Publication
PH0066, 2019, Access to Information
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Civil Society Participation to Improve LGU Service Delivery
PH0042, 2017, Access to Information
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Engage Communities in the Fight Against Corruption, Criminality and Illegal Drugs
PH0043, 2017, Capacity Building
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Ease of Doing Business:Competitiveness
PH0044, 2017, Legislation & Regulation
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Ease of Doing Business: Philippines’ Anti-Red Tape Challenge)
PH0045, 2017, Capacity Building
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Citizen Participatory Audit)
PH0046, 2017, Anti-Corruption
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8888 Citizens’ Complaint Center
PH0047, 2017, Public Participation
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Government Feedback Mechanism
PH0048, 2017, Capacity Building
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Access to Information Legislation
PH0049, 2017, Access to Information
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e-Participation Through the National Government Portal
PH0050, 2017, Access to Information
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Open Budget Index and Budget Reform Bill
PH0051, 2017, Access to Information
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Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
PH0052, 2017, Anti-Corruption
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Institutional Mechanisms for Disaster Response
PH0053, 2017, Access to Information
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Shelter Development for Informal Settler Families
PH0054, 2017, Access to Information
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Open Local Legislative Processes
PH0055, 2017, E-Government
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Law on ATI
PH0029, 2015, Access to Information
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Transparency of Local Govs Plans and Budgets
PH0030, 2015, Fiscal Openness
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Open Data
PH0031, 2015, Access to Information
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Extractive Industries' Transparency
PH0032, 2015, Anti-Corruption
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CSO Engagement in Public Audit
PH0033, 2015, Anti-Corruption
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Civic Enagement in Local Budget Planning
PH0034, 2015, Fiscal Openness
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Civic Enagement in Local Budget Planning – Community Capacity-Building
PH0035, 2015, Capacity Building
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Improving Public Service Delivery
PH0036, 2015, Public Participation
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Improving Local Govs' Performance
PH0037, 2015, Capacity Building
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Improve the Ease of Doing Business
PH0038, 2015, Private Sector
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Local Government Competitiveness
PH0039, 2015, Access to Information
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Public and Private Sector Dialogue
PH0040, 2015, Private Sector
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Improving Corporate Accountability
PH0041, 2015, Private Sector
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Sustain Transparency in National Government Plans and Budgets
PH0020, 2013, E-Government
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Support for the Passage of Legislations on Access to Information and Protection of Whistleblowers
PH0021, 2013, Access to Information
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Engage Civil Society in Public Audit
PH0022, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Enhance Performance Benchmarks for Local Governance
PH0023, 2013, Capacity Building
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Enhance the Government Procurement System
PH0024, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Strengthen Grassroots Participation in Local Planning and Budgeting
PH0025, 2013, Fiscal Openness
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Provide More Accessible Government Data in a Single Portal and Open Format
PH0026, 2013, Access to Information
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Initiate Fiscal Transparency in the Extractive Industry
PH0027, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Improve the Ease of Doing Business
PH0028, 2013, Private Sector
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Disclose Executive Budgets
PH0001, 2011, Fiscal Openness
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Access to Information Initiative
PH0002, 2011, Access to Information
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Broader CSO Engagement
PH0003, 2011, Public Participation
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Participatory Budget Roadmap
PH0004, 2011, Fiscal Openness
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Local Poverty Reduction
PH0005, 2011, Public Participation
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Empowerment Fund
PH0006, 2011, Capacity Building
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Social Audit
PH0007, 2011, Anti-Corruption
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Results-Based Performance
PH0008, 2011, Capacity Building
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Performance-Based Budgeting
PH0009, 2011, Capacity Building
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Citizen’S Charters
PH0010, 2011, Capacity Building
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Internal Audit
PH0011, 2011, Anti-Corruption
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Single Portal for Information
PH0012, 2011, Access to Information
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Integrated Financial Management System
PH0013, 2011, E-Government
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Electronic Bidding
PH0014, 2011, Anti-Corruption
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Procurement Cards
PH0015, 2011, Anti-Corruption
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Manpower Information System
PH0016, 2011, E-Government
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Expand the National Household Targeting System (NHTS)
PH0017, 2011, Public Participation
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e-TAILS
PH0018, 2011, E-Government
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Budget Ng Bayan
PH0019, 2011, Fiscal Openness