Various civil society organizations (CSOs) which had been engaging the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and other government agencies in the formulation of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) for 2011-2016 of the President Noynoy Aquino Administration expressed frustration at the lack of meaningful people’s participation in the process. The PDP process started in November 2010 and is about to be completed with President Aquino expected to approve the final Plan soon. CODE-NGO Executive Director Sixto Donato Macasaet cited that not one of the five recommendations of the CSOs to ensure meaningful participation, which was previously communicated to NEDA last December, has been fully implemented. The latest draft of the Plan does not even mention asset reform in its Introduction, which summarizes the PDP strategy. 

———————————————

Various civil society organizations (CSOs) which had been engaging the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and other government agencies in the formulation of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) for 2011-2016 of the President Noynoy Aquino Administration expressed frustration at the lack of meaningful people’s participation in the process.  The PDP process started in November 2010 and is about to be completed with President Aquino expected to approve the final Plan soon.

CODE-NGO Executive Director Sixto Donato C. Macasaet, in his April 8, 2011 letter to NEDA Director General Cayetano Paderanga, wrote “We are disappointed that despite President Benigno S. Aquino’s call for “pakikilahok” and active citizen participation in governance, and the efforts of CODE-NGO and many other civil society organizations (CSOs) since August 2010, there has been very limited CSO participation in the PDP process.”  He cited that not one of the five recommendations of the CSOs to ensure meaningful participation, which was communicated in a letter to Secretary Paderanga and the other Plan Steering Committee (PSC) members last December 1, 2010, has been fully implemented. “We are dismayed that despite your commitment at our meeting last January 25, 2011 to provide us a copy of the drafts of the Plan as these are prepared so that CSOs can review and submit our comments, we only received from NEDA the January 2011 draft and not any of the subsequent drafts – despite our repeated requests/ follow-up in February and March 2011”, Macasaet added.

CODE-NGO also lamented that despite its recognition of inequality, the Introduction of the April 2011 draft of the PDP (which CODE-NGO was able to obtain from another source) does not even mention asset reform in its strategy.  Instead, the Introduction only highlights massive investment in physical infrastructure, transparent and responsive governance, removing obstacles to private investment, human development (health, education, social protection), employment creation and complementary strategies (macroeconomic policy of low inflation and sustainable fiscal balances, ecological integrity and climate change mitigation, higher education and science and technology, end of armed conflict and attainment of lasting peace).   “The absence of asset reform in this chapter, which summarizes the main elements of the PDP for 2011-2016, is a critical weakness.  It leaves out the core problem of most poor Filipinos, the small farmers and fishers, indigenous peoples and the urban poor – the lack of access to productive resources.  This neglect of asset reform goes against the core of the Plan’s supposed thrust – inclusive growth”, CODE-NGO pointed out.

In another letter to President Aquino last February 9, 2011, 16 CSO networks and alliances, including the National Secretariat for Social Action – Catholics Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP-NASSA), Green Convergence, Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), NGOs for Fisheries Reform (NFR), Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA) and CODE-NGO, among others, decried the absence in the draft PDP of “a clear, over-all development framework that is responsive to our country’s present situation.”  The groups said that they “are alarmed that the draft plan seems to still cling to the old flawed development model that is focused on the export market rather than developing the domestic market and lacks a comprehensive industrial development plan as well as a well-defined trade policy. We believe that such a model will not lead to the attainment of “an organized and widely shared rapid expansion of our economy” and will fail to fulfill your “Social Contract”.

CODE-NGO however also acknowledged that many of its recommendations for the PDP Chapter on Social Development, especially those on strengthening the asset reform and employment programs have been integrated into the latest draft.  The group also found the chapters on Governance and Rule of Law and on Peace to be generally well crafted.

The CSOs’ engagement in the PDP process started as early as mid-2009.  Various CSOs participated in a CSO Assessment of the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) for 2004-2010.  This CSO assessment process, which was coordinated by CODE-NGO, ran from April 2009 to April 2010.

CSOs also participated in the process led by the United Nations Civil Society Advisory Committee (UNCSAC), through Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and CODE-NGO from June 2010 to September 2010, that resulted in the “Citizens’ Roadmap for Poverty Reduction and Achieving the MDGs:  Recommendations for the 2010-2016 MTPDP”.  This “Roadmap” was the subject of a CSO-government-development partners Conference in August 2010 which was attended by Budget and Management Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad and NEDA representatives.  The Roadmap was formally presented to a NEDA representative and Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, representing President Aquino, in Pasig City last September 2010.

CODE-NGO and FDC met with NEDA officials in November 2010 shortly after the guidelines for the PDP process was issued by NEDA.  The various CSOs engaging in the PDP planning committees began to meet and coordinate with each other later that month, and have been meeting since then.  These CSOs are now finalizing an alternative roadmap to development.

The PDP process has been a long, winding and tortuous road for these CSOs.  The end is now in sight, but, looking back, it has been a journey marked by some substantial gains, but also significant frustrations. – By Sixto Donato C. Macasaet, CODE-NGO Executive Director.