The Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) requested Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to reconsider his decision to stop the Bottom Up Budgeting (BUB) program. “Bottom Up Budgeting (BUB) enabled local civil society organizations (CSOs) and local government officials to jointly identify priority anti-poverty projects which would then be included in the budget of the national government agencies. BUB is important because it promoted people’s participation and LGU-CSO partnerships, and allowed those on the ground in the fight against poverty to input into the national government budgeting process”, explained Sixto Donato Macasaet, Executive Director of CODE-NGO.
Under the BUB, each municipality and city is allocated at least P15 Million a year for priority anti-poverty projects in their area. These projects are identified by a Local Poverty Reduction Action Team (LPRAT), half of the members of which comes from local government officials and the other half comes from local CSOs. The local CSOs are elected by an annual assembly of CSOs active in the municipality/city.
In a news briefing on Thursday, July 14, 2016, Secretary Diokno stated that BUB would be discontinued because it was “a waste of funds” and it was “politicized by the previous administration”. He added that the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) mandated by the Local Government Code should be enough for local projects.
“Local governments and local CSOs should also have a say on how the national government allocates its budget. They should not be limited just to their IRA allocations”, Macasaet continued.
CODE-NGO declared that they saw that under BUB in 2012 to 2016, or five years, community leaders – farmers, fishers, women, indigenous peoples, young people, senior citizens, urban poor, market vendors, public transport drivers, and faith-based organizations, among others – participated meaningfully in government budgeting.
“The BUB is very helpful especially to municipalities with low internal revenue allotment (IRA) because it supplements the LGU funds for services. It caters to the genuine needs of the masses from the grassroots. It also opens the door wide for CSOs to understand and learn the basics of good governance. It may curb corruption in government because of CSO presence as watchdogs,” shared Leo Laurio Lupangco, president of the Anini-y Environmental Protection Association and Anini-y Alliance of CSOs, and Gerelito Ermina, president of the CSO Alliance of Tobias Fornier, both in Antique.
In Surigao del Sur, Joel L. Pantaleon, president of the municipal CSO network agreed, “BUB is very useful to us since it addresses the priority needs at the grassroots.”
The guidelines of the BUB are covered by Joint Memorandum Circulars issued by four lead agencies for BUB, namely the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC).
The guidelines have been revised through the five years based on assessments of local governments’ and CSOs’ experiences and feedback regarding the planning process and its related activities.
Ali E. Bandera, municipal coordinator of the Pioneers and Christians and Muslims Alliance Network of Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental, is optimistic about BUB. “Ang BUB ay nakatulong. Nakadeliver baya ang projects para sa mga sektor, hinuon may mga problema. Delay pananglitan sa budget ug implementation pero klaro pud baya nga waay projects, Nakatubag gaway sa panginahanglan sa basic sector. (BUB helped. It delivered projects despite problems. There are delays due to budget and implementation, but it is clear that the projects developed were responsive to the needs of the basic sectors.)”
“CODE-NGO hopes that Secretary Diokno would defer his decision on the BUB, and would first do a thorough review of the program, including broad-based consultations with the various sectors involved, especially the local government officials and the local CSOs”, he added.