Ensuring empowerment, democratization, and governance, along with peace and human rights, are themes found in the Development and Reform Agenda for 2022 – 2028 (DRA)*.

In selecting agenda actions, priority was placed on the concerns and positions of the poor sectors of the Philippines, including small farmers and fisherfolk, workers, urban poor, indigenous peoples, and others. At the same time, these proposed actions address the concerns of most, if not all the sectors or our society.

The DRA and the process of agenda-building traces its roots in the 2010 elections. In 2009, in the midst of a global economic crisis, mal-governance across all levels of the country, and clockwork devastation brought about by extreme climate change, CODE-NGO and many other CSOs put forward a DRA identifying priority actions in the hope that these will guide the succeeding administration in steering the country towards democratization and development. This DRA was based on four pillars: (a) Ensuring Empowerment and Democratization, (b) Reducing Poverty and Inequality, (c) Building Peace and (d) Promoting a Sustainable Economy and Environment.

Sectors have joined hands since and continue to cooperate in pushing for transparency in people’s participation in governance, building and maintaining peace, improving access to social services, and the fight against corruption.

The DRA now aims to identify and raise awareness of and support for vital actions that the next President and Administration should implement in order to address the multiple challenges facing our country now: the lingering COVID-19 pandemic which is still a threat, high unemployment, and underemployment rates, lower production, increased poverty, and inequality, continuing human rights violations and intolerance of opposition, weakened people’s participation in governance, and the lack of transparency among many top government officials.

In selecting agenda actions, priority was placed on the concerns and positions of the poor sectors of the Philippines, including small farmers and fisherfolk, workers, urban poor, indigenous peoples, and others. At the same time, these proposed actions address the concerns of most, if not all the sectors of our society.
*The Development Agenda formulated by the Change Politics Movement serves as an updated version of CODE-NGO’s DRA, which will be validated with CSOs in the first quarter of 2022.