Would local chief executives of 24 municipalities in Visayas and Mindanao stand a good chance of being reelected (if they are still qualified and interested) less than 10 months from now? The answer, in part, would depend on the leaders and members of civil society organizations (CSOs) in these towns.

Three years ago, these CSOs began talking over constructive engagement.

Around them, preparations for the campaign trail was underway though people’s indifference towards another local election was common. The CSOs started the work of monitoring how well their local government units (LGUs) are delivering services and governing their communities. With courage of heart and the Civil Society Satisfaction Report Card (CSRC) on hand, they asked leaders of groups of farmers, fishers, women, indigenous peoples, young people, senior citizens, urban poor, market vendors, public transport drivers, and faith-based organizations, among others, the salient question, “Are you satisfied or not satisfied with your LGU’s performance?” The appreciable information gathered were presented to the newly elected officials and benchmarked for monitoring local governance during their three-year term.

To constructively engage also means to partner with government in developing communities towards prosperity and resilience.

To jumpstart that, the CSOs crafted their own development planning agenda – an analysis of causes and effects of local poverty; a change-over from problems to hopeful targets; and a list of pro-poor programs, projects, activities, and legislations as solutions. They review and revise it every year. They refer to this agenda when they join the annual local development planning and budgeting processes and advocate for its inclusion in the Executive-Legislative Agenda and Annual Investment Plan of the LGU. They make use of this agenda, too, when they assemble for the annual Bottom-up Budgeting (BUB) processes managed by the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government).

CSOs have the right and responsibility to get involved, even if the ground for participation in local governance is rough-grained. There are local chief executives who fend them off and administrative processes that stall for time. Some required LGU tasks are undone; some local special bodies are absent. Monitoring and evaluation efforts have not been organized extensively. There are CSO leaders who prefer to be silent; those who still lack mastery of their own cause; those who are afraid to take risks; and those who have low self-esteem.

But local governance directly affects community life; therefore, it cannot exclude nor dishearten CSOs. A range of continuing strategies – like monitoring performance through the CSRC, contributing to or observing LGU processes, or proposing projects in the BUB – helps CSOs to act in an organized way. Then, positive change can happen. Here are the gains CSOs have won so far:

Recognition of the role of CSOs in governance

In Banaybanay, Davao Oriental, there is now a secretariat for CSO concerns equipped with basic facilities and supplies and a development fund which CSOs utilized for their development planning workshop. CSO desks are also present in the municipal halls of Barobo, Surigao Del Sur and Oras, Eastern Samar. The LGU of Hilongos, Leyte affirms that the diversity of its CSOs gives it more eyes and ears to identify and develop projects.

The LGUs of Governor Generoso and San Isidro in Davao Oriental recognize their CSOs’ constructive participation, that the latter are not naysayers all the time. The CSOs also realize that to participate in local governance is an empowering mechanism. Building trust and complementation in one another is essential for total development.

More responsive projects for the community

The LGU of Sta. Margarita, Samar promised to address three CSRC priority issues – illegal fishing, livelihood and employment, and graft and corruption. Mayor Gemma Zosa allocated Php 1.7M from their 2015 budget to establish a marine sanctuary; to put buoys in the sea fishing boundaries; and to reactivate the Bantay Dagat program. Her office implements livelihood programs, while other such programs have been included in the BUB 2015 process.

In Tagapul-an, Samar, the CSOs would persevere more to have their agenda included in the annual plan of the LGU. They noted, however, that the executive-legislative branches have already set a number of similar and comparably responsive programs to answer the needs of the people.

Dialogues with CSOs enable local government officials to attribute relevance to certain projects, to modify and fit projects to present situations, or to implement those that can urgently resolve. For example, CSO lobbying for crop subsidies and inputs in the annual investment plan of La Paz, Agusan Del Sur had been encouraging because rice and corn are major commodities in the community. Inversely, CSOs may also learn from the technical know-how of LGUs, study its priority concerns, and work on a better advocacy plan for their development agenda.

Negotiation and win-win solutions

Tarangnan, Samar CSO leaders use negotiation as an advocacy strategy in order to take advantage of the political conditions in their town. One of the LGU and CSOs’ negotiated agreement is for certain CSO-proposed projects to be funded by the annual LGU budget and other small grants, while few and large-scale LGU projects are prioritized for BUB funding.

CSOs of Matalom and Hilongos, Leyte told their LGU officials, “Bahala’g naa magtukod mo ug daghang building with BUB, basta taga-i sad mi ug Capacity Building. (It’s up to you if you construct many buildings through BUB, just give us also for capacity building.)” Thus, this year, the CSOs would be benefiting from various CSO capacity building efforts funded by the BUB 2015 budget: Php 500,000 for Matalom and Php 600,000 for Hilongos.

Openness to dialogue and feedback

Rebecca Nofies, CSO leader of Oras, Eastern Samar, narrates, “Mayor Viviane Alvarez met the CSRC municipal-level results with positive regard. Afterwards, she made use of the CSRC key result areas as a guide for and measurement of the performance of our barangay LGU officials.”

Through the CSRC, local chief executives learn how CSOs perceive the quality of their service delivery and governance.  If local public institutions are to be managed effectively, these would welcome feedback from its constituents – its customers and human resources at the same time.  Receiving these information from time to time and viewing these constructively pave the way for self-improvement.

CSOs would benefit from learning that “time and timing are crucial to the process; it is about finding the right time, right methods, and right language to appeal to government.”

If local governance has improved, public services have been better delivered, and poor people have stronger voices during the last three years, then the local chief executives of 24 municipalities in Visayas and Mindanao stand a good chance of being reelected in May 2016.

(This article is based on CODE-NGO’s “Citizens’ Participation in Monitoring LGU Performance and Development Planning for Poverty Reduction” project with funding support from the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines. It is implemented in 24 municipalities in Antique, Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, Davao Oriental, Agusan Del Sur, and Surigao Del Sur.)

Deanie Lyn Ocampo is the Capacity Building Officer of CODE-NGO’s CML Project.

Katrina Chloie Quilala is a senior Political Science Major from the University of Santo Tomas. She did her internship at CODE-NGO mid-year of 2015 under the CML Project.