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Philippines

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, Subnational

IRM Review

IRM Report: Pending IRM Review

Starred: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: Pending IRM Review

Relevant to OGP Values: Pending IRM Review

Potential Impact: Pending IRM Review

Implementation i

Completion: Pending IRM Review

Description

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

  1. Citizen Participation in Local Government

    PH0056, 2019, Capacity Building

  2. Participation in Local Tourism Development

    PH0057, 2019, Capacity Building

  3. Basic Education Inputs Program

    PH0058, 2019, Capacity Building

  4. Open Data Portal

    PH0059, 2019, Access to Information

  5. Participatory Monitoring of Infrastructure Projects

    PH0060, 2019, Capacity Building

  6. Implement EITI

    PH0061, 2019, Access to Information

  7. Passage of Freedom of Information Law

    PH0062, 2019, Access to Information

  8. Labor Inclusivity and Dispute Resolution

    PH0063, 2019, Access to Justice

  9. Participatory Children's Health and Nutrition Program

    PH0064, 2019, Gender

  10. Indigenous Representation in Local Legislative Councils

    PH0065, 2019, E-Government

  11. Open Contracting Data Publication

    PH0066, 2019, Access to Information

  12. Civil Society Participation to Improve LGU Service Delivery

    PH0042, 2017, Access to Information

  13. Engage Communities in the Fight Against Corruption, Criminality and Illegal Drugs

    PH0043, 2017, Capacity Building

  14. Ease of Doing Business:Competitiveness

    PH0044, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  15. Ease of Doing Business: Philippines’ Anti-Red Tape Challenge)

    PH0045, 2017, Capacity Building

  16. Citizen Participatory Audit)

    PH0046, 2017, Anti-Corruption

  17. 8888 Citizens’ Complaint Center

    PH0047, 2017, Public Participation

  18. Government Feedback Mechanism

    PH0048, 2017, Capacity Building

  19. Access to Information Legislation

    PH0049, 2017, Access to Information

  20. e-Participation Through the National Government Portal

    PH0050, 2017, Access to Information

  21. Open Budget Index and Budget Reform Bill

    PH0051, 2017, Access to Information

  22. Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

    PH0052, 2017, Anti-Corruption

  23. Institutional Mechanisms for Disaster Response

    PH0053, 2017, Access to Information

  24. Shelter Development for Informal Settler Families

    PH0054, 2017, Access to Information

  25. Open Local Legislative Processes

    PH0055, 2017, E-Government

  26. Law on ATI

    PH0029, 2015, Access to Information

  27. Transparency of Local Govs Plans and Budgets

    PH0030, 2015, Fiscal Openness

  28. Open Data

    PH0031, 2015, Access to Information

  29. Extractive Industries' Transparency

    PH0032, 2015, Anti-Corruption

  30. CSO Engagement in Public Audit

    PH0033, 2015, Anti-Corruption

  31. Civic Enagement in Local Budget Planning

    PH0034, 2015, Fiscal Openness

  32. Civic Enagement in Local Budget Planning – Community Capacity-Building

    PH0035, 2015, Capacity Building

  33. Improving Public Service Delivery

    PH0036, 2015, Public Participation

  34. Improving Local Govs' Performance

    PH0037, 2015, Capacity Building

  35. Improve the Ease of Doing Business

    PH0038, 2015, Private Sector

  36. Local Government Competitiveness

    PH0039, 2015, Access to Information

  37. Public and Private Sector Dialogue

    PH0040, 2015, Private Sector

  38. Improving Corporate Accountability

    PH0041, 2015, Private Sector

  39. Sustain Transparency in National Government Plans and Budgets

    PH0020, 2013, E-Government

  40. Support for the Passage of Legislations on Access to Information and Protection of Whistleblowers

    PH0021, 2013, Access to Information

  41. Engage Civil Society in Public Audit

    PH0022, 2013, Anti-Corruption

  42. Enhance Performance Benchmarks for Local Governance

    PH0023, 2013, Capacity Building

  43. Enhance the Government Procurement System

    PH0024, 2013, Anti-Corruption

  44. Strengthen Grassroots Participation in Local Planning and Budgeting

    PH0025, 2013, Fiscal Openness

  45. Provide More Accessible Government Data in a Single Portal and Open Format

    PH0026, 2013, Access to Information

  46. Starred commitment Initiate Fiscal Transparency in the Extractive Industry

    PH0027, 2013, Anti-Corruption

  47. Starred commitment Improve the Ease of Doing Business

    PH0028, 2013, Private Sector

  48. Disclose Executive Budgets

    PH0001, 2011, Fiscal Openness

  49. Access to Information Initiative

    PH0002, 2011, Access to Information

  50. Broader CSO Engagement

    PH0003, 2011, Public Participation

  51. Participatory Budget Roadmap

    PH0004, 2011, Fiscal Openness

  52. Local Poverty Reduction

    PH0005, 2011, Public Participation

  53. Empowerment Fund

    PH0006, 2011, Capacity Building

  54. Social Audit

    PH0007, 2011, Anti-Corruption

  55. Results-Based Performance

    PH0008, 2011, Capacity Building

  56. Performance-Based Budgeting

    PH0009, 2011, Capacity Building

  57. Citizen’S Charters

    PH0010, 2011, Capacity Building

  58. Internal Audit

    PH0011, 2011, Anti-Corruption

  59. Single Portal for Information

    PH0012, 2011, Access to Information

  60. Integrated Financial Management System

    PH0013, 2011, E-Government

  61. Electronic Bidding

    PH0014, 2011, Anti-Corruption

  62. Procurement Cards

    PH0015, 2011, Anti-Corruption

  63. Manpower Information System

    PH0016, 2011, E-Government

  64. Expand the National Household Targeting System (NHTS)

    PH0017, 2011, Public Participation

  65. e-TAILS

    PH0018, 2011, E-Government

  66. Budget Ng Bayan

    PH0019, 2011, Fiscal Openness

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