On June 18, 2015, the 4th Philippine Urbanization Forum was convened alongside the 25th General Assembly of the Partnership of Philippine Support Service Agencies (PHILSSA) at Bayview Park Hotel in Manila. It was a celebration of the success of PHILSSA as a network organization and an opportunity for its member CSOs to share their social development experiences.

The Philippines is a vibrant country and must only move forward. This was emphasized by Atty. Jose Luis “Chito” Gascon, Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights. He believes that the Philippines has the potential to be the best compared to other ASEAN countries, if only this potential can be utilized well. Moreover, he told everyone not to repeat the mistakes we have done in the past and instead continue advancing forward.

The plenary session proceeded with a few more speakers. “We have achieved silver, let us go for gold”, said by Ms. Rosemarie Herrera, PHILSSA Chairperson. A reminder to all that it is not only the country that must move forward, but also every key actor involved in it, including CSOs.

Ms. Patricia Sarenas, CODE-NGO Chairperson, discussed the importance of the role of CSOs in building a sustainable country. The challenges she discussed included: economic and cultural/historical spheres, rapid evolution of ICT, climate change and extreme climate events, increase of regional, international and global networks and platforms of CSOs articulating and advancing norms concerning issues, Post-2015 Development Agenda, rise in tolerance and political/religious extremism and peace and order and national security problems. She emphasized that though there are challenges, these should not hinder CSOs from attaining its purpose.

Mr. Jaime Evanglista, Aksyon sa Kahandaan sa Kalamidad at Klima (AKKMA) Co-Covenor, also shared his opinion regarding the implementation of BUB projects in Laguna. He reiterated that even though the project was good, it still needs to be modified. Slow implementation, ghost organizations and unqualified beneficiaries were the major challenges he mentioned that need to be addressed.

True to its identity as one of the pioneers of leading Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) programs, PHILSSA devoted a part of the event for a sharing of experiences during typhoon Yolanda. Speakers for this session were Mr. Alex Nayve of Christian Aid, Mr. Dennis Murphy and Ms. Ivy Shiela Pagute of UPA, Mr. Chito Dugan of SIKAT and Mr. Teodorico de Guia of PAGE.

Based on the sharing, typhoon Yolanda brought devastation to Filipinos, but if it produced something good, it was the lessons learned. Learnings that CSOs could have not known if the typhoon did not hit the country. Would anyone have thought that our culture of dependency would be an issue? This was what SIKAT needed to address when they helped the people in the island of Guian, Eastern Samar.

Moreover, the disaster has allowed organizations to review their plans on DRRM. They were able to identify what was part of their plan that in real situation cannot be applied and at the same time add new elements which were missing.

Amidst all the challenges that each organization experienced, still, they were able to thrive because of their commitment and passion to help and provide service.

Kerby Gonzaga spent his internship at CODE-NGO, assisting the Knowledge Development and Management as well as the Membership Program. He is a senior Political Science major from the University of Santo Tomas (UST).