Every six years, the Caucus of Development NGO Networks, Inc. (CODE-NGO), the Change Politics Movement (CPM), and other civil society organizations gather to craft a four-pillar Development and Reform Agenda (DRA).

The DRA serves to raise awareness and to drum up support for vital and critical actions that the next President and Administration of the Philippines should implement in order to address the multiple challenges facing our country today. For their term of office in 2022-2028, we present this DRA .

The priority government actions cited below consider the plight of marginalized sectors such as farmers and fisherfolk, workers, urban poor, and indigenous peoples. Other actions are related to ensuring empowerment, democratization and good governance, protecting human rights and building peace, and promoting sustainable development and recovery.

The next Administration should decisively and effectively address inequities in our country across sectors, geographical areas, gender, age, and ethnicities, especially in light of the worsening effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on existing inequities in access to decent incomes, education, health, social services, transportation and mobility, financial services and information and communication technology.

A. Asset Reform

1) Agrarian Reform 

a. Complete the transfer and distribution of lands covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) but not yet transferred to the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).

b. Develop and institutionalize a monitoring and evaluation system that measures success in agrarian reform through indicators of productivity, income and poverty incidence among agrarian reform beneficiaries.

c. Strengthen gender, age (young farmers), ethnicity (indigenous peoples) – sensitivity and the conservation of the prime agricultural areas and protected areas (NIPAS) in the implementation of CARPER (CARP Extension with Reforms).

d. Support the approval of the law extending the period for the issuance of Notices of Coverage of private agricultural lands under agrarian reform and the proposed Magna Carta for Young Farmers.

2) Fisheries 

a. Pass a new Administrative Order that will hasten and complete the delineation of municipal waters and their exclusive use by local and small fishers. 

b. Implement Republic Act (RA) 10654 amending the Fisheries Code which sets higher penalties and tightens rules on commercial fishing. 

c. Adopt and implement the Community-Based Coastal Resource Management (CBCRM) Program.

d. Empower women in the fisheries sector by, among others, requiring at least 40% women’s representation in all special bodies related to fisheries and promoting the concept of women-managed areas.

e. Support the creation of the Department of Fisheries for the effective implementation of the amended Fisheries Code.

f. Support the enactment of (i) the Bantay Dagat Bill, (ii) the Fisherfolk Settlements Bill, and (iii) the Laguna Lake Conservation Authority (LLCA) Bill.

3) Ancestral Domain 

a. Fast-track the delineation and titling of ancestral lands/domain under the Indigenous People Rights Acts (IPRA). 

b. Rationalize the overlapping of the tenurial mapping of DAR, DENR, Department of Agriculture (DA) and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). Build up the capacities of the NCIP.

c. Provide capability building assistance for the IP communities including the crafting of their ancestral domain sustainable development plans and documentation of the IP systems and practices. Increase the budget allocation for the implementation of the ancestral domain sustainable development plans.

d. Provide human rights protection to the threatened IP communities. 

e. Ensure the genuine and meaningful conduct of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) processes.

4) Housing 

a. Decentralize and localize the provision of social housing by empowering local governments in planning and implementing social housing projects. 

b. Complete the inventory of public lands for social housing and disclose this inventory. 

c. Monitor and ensure the strict implementation of the 20% Balanced Housing provision of the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA).

d. Increase the budget for housing to 2% of the total budget, prioritize socialized housing and ensure the efficient utilization of these funds. 

e. Review the existing charter of the National Housing Authority that will expire in 2025 with a view to decentralizing the provision of social housing to enable local governments to plan and deliver social housing to the urban poor, undertake meaningful consultations with intended beneficiaries and be accountable for their housing performance more proactively. 

f. Review existing resettlement site selection policies and adopt a systems approach in planning resettlement projects. 

h. Invest in protective infrastructures. 

i. Adjust amortization policies on housing units damaged by disasters. 

B. Social Protection

1. Sustain the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) with effective monitoring and evaluation and grievance system to ensure the meaningful implementation of the program. 

2. Ensure the strong links between the 4Ps program and asset reform, livelihood and social enterprise programs to support the sustained improvement of the beneficiaries’ lives. 

3. Study the adoption of a Universal Basic Income policy with broad consultation with formal and informal workers groups, employers and concerned government agencies (e.g., DOF, DBM, DOLE) and legislate its adoption accordingly.

4. Expand the non-contributory social pension for senior citizens. 

C. Social Services

1) Health 

a. Prioritize the health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Effectively implement the trace – test – isolate – treat and vaccinate strategies to control the spread of the disease and ensure adequate support to health workers.

b. Ensure and monitor the full implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) law with a definite time frame for achieving full coverage to uphold the rights of all to quality health care services, Strengthen the primary health care system by ensuring the presence of adequate qualified human and material resources in all barangay health centers.

c. Establish policy reforms to ensure rational distribution of health personnel at the LGU level and their just compensation. 

d. Ensure that the LGUs integrate into their local development and investment plans the effective and inclusive management of the UHC system, as well as allocations for health promotion measures.

e. Improve inter-agency and multi-stakeholder partnerships to strengthen support for the school health and nutrition program in public schools, and workplace health programs in the informal economy  and enhance and provide more funds for programs aimed at eradicating child hunger and malnutrition. 

f. Work with CSOs and schools to devise and support programs to prevent teenage pregnancy and provide the necessary social and psycho-emotional support to teenage mothers. 

2) Education 

a. Increase government spending on education to at least six percent (6%) of GDP.

b. Ensure and monitor the full implementation of the K-12 program through capacity-building of school administrators and teachers. 

c. Capacitate teachers in implementing hybrid and online teaching methods and equip schools and students with the necessary materials, equipment and digital connectivity to ensure optimized learning.

d. Increase budget allocation to build safer and disaster-resilient schools and classrooms, hire more competent teachers, and procure adequate quality textbooks and other relevant educational equipment and materials. 

e. Ensure the continuous “zero backlog” in classrooms, textbooks and teachers in public elementary and high schools.

f. Broaden the implementation of and increase the budget allocation for the Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) and technical-vocational courses. 

g. Support the establishment of the madaris for Muslim communities outside of BARMM by increasing budget and ensuring their safety.

h. Integrate the rights-based approach, peace and Mindanao history, and human rights and other issues during the Martial Law period in the primary and secondary education curricula nationwide.

i. Ensure that everyone, especially children in vulnerable situations and sectors, are able to go to school.

j. Assess and update textbooks and learning materials to eliminate defective, erroneous and untruthful content in all academic disciplines. 

k. Support public and private education complementarity. 

D. Effective Coordination of Anti-poverty Programs

1. The President should take an active role in the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) and ensure effective coordination and oversight on anti-poverty programs of government and genuine partnerships with business and civil society organizations.

2. Target to reduce Gini coefficients at the national and regional levels in the next Medium Term Philippine Development Plan for equitable distribution of the benefits of economic growth.

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Note: CODE-NGO is currently validating the above Agenda with various civil society organizations serving the basic sectors and operating in different geographic areas. The validation process will run until April 25, 2022. Comments, suggestions or queries on the DRA may be sent to ssoliman@code-ngo.org