Bicol Team Joined Training for Municipal Lead Organizers of Empowerment Project

As the Empowerment Project (EP) – Bicol Team embarks on the challenging task of implementing a 5-month project dubbed “Building and Strengthening Local CSO-LGU-NGA Partnerships for Poverty Reduction”, twelve (12) municipal lead organizers (MLO) and two regional staff of CBD joined the two-day National Capacity Building Training for Municipal Lead Organizers spearheaded by CODE-NGO last July 9-10, 2012. The training, held at the PhilDHRRA Partnership Center in Quezon City, was attended by 24 organizers and coordinators from Bicol, Eastern Visayas and CARAGA regions.  Together with the project teams of Visayas and Mindanao, we the participants discussed the local governance processes and formulated specific plans for activities that will be undertaken in each of the twenty municipalities within the project period, June 1 to October 31, 2012.

The training started with a brief orientation of the Empowerment Project followed by substantive inputs from project partners National Anti-poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary Joel Rocamora and NAPC Usec. Marie Victa Labajo who heads the Empowerment Fund Program Management Office. Sec. Rocamora discussed the anti-poverty agenda of the government and the important role of CSOs in realizing the agenda.  Usec. Labajo provided updates on the Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) process and plans.

Usec. Labajo also shared pieces of good news — that all the submitted Local Anti-Poverty Plans (LAPP) of the LGUs for 2013 will be funded, provided the LAPP process and the identified projects complied with the guidelines; and that in the next budget cycle for 2014, the LGUs will be encouraged to come up with local anti-poverty plans and budgets that will faithfully respond to the needs of the people based on their actual situation instead of being limted to the budget cap. We had ample time for questions and clarifications which made the dialogue with the NAPC officials informative and useful. 

After discussing the areas for improvement in the upcoming bottom up budgeting and planning process, which is scheduled to start in October 2012, the participants are expected to share their knowledge and mentor the Municipal CSO network leaders in their area of assignment. This effort will be made to enhance the quality of CSO and basic sectors’ participation in the next BUB-LAPP process for the 2014 budget.

Since the said training last July 9-10 was designed to be re-echoed by the MLOs,  CODE-NGO provided additional inputs on localization and empowerment through a presentation on participatory local anti-poverty planning and practical pointers to consider when undergoing the process. The salient features of the Local Government Code of 1991 were also discussed by Ms. Jing Lopez of PhilDHRRA, emphasizing on how CSOs may take part in the LGU planning and budgeting in a bottom-up approach.

We then firmed up the plans for the activities that will be conducted in the next few months before we parted ways to go back to our areas of assignment. For the EP-Bicol team, we will pursue Municipal LGU-Local Poverty Reduction Action Team (LPRAT) advocacy and partnership meetings; organize 12 municipal/city CSO networks in Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon and Masbate; conduct capacity building seminars on APPLES (Advancing People’s Participation for Local Empowerment and Structures); participate in BUB-LAPP; and continue networking and constructive engagement. We also plan to organize a regional knowledge sharing and mentoring activity that will gather leaders of the NGO/PO network from the 12 LGUs. We hope that this activity will surface issues that are commonly encountered in these areas and will help us identify possible solutions to prepare the basic sectors and CSO leaders as they constructively engage their respective LGUs for the 2014 BUB-LAPP. Parallel to the organizing of LPRATs at the municipal level, the EP-Bicol Team will also directly engage with the regional offices of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to discuss the creation and mobilization of a regional level PRAT and how this body can concretely support budgeting and planning process of the LGUs with an oversight function as defined in the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 01 of DBM-DILG-DSWD-NAPC. An expanded RPRAT that will include other participating agencies, like the Departments of Agrarian Reform, Agriculture, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources, Education, Health, etc., mentioned in the JMC is also being explored and may be organized by virtue of a regional memorandum circular that may be issued by DILG.

We have a long way to go to end poverty. For CBD, the development journey has begun but a lot more needs to be done to help alleviate the poverty situation in the country. The BUB-LAPP process is only one of the strategies that we CSOs must take advantage of. The present administration may be treading the right track in its much–promoted “Matuwid na Daan” strategy, but the challenges still remain — What more can we do in order to make a remarkable difference by year 2016 and beyond? — a disturbing question that we must answer decisively and collectively to realize our common vision of a better quality of life for all. — By Joy Oropesa-Bañares, Regional Coordinator, Coalition for Bicol Development, Inc. (CBD)