Good Governance Dialogue Regional Forum
Good Governance Dialogue NCR Leg, September 1-3, 2014 in Quezon City
The Good Governance Dialogue kicked off its first leg at the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria in Quezon City. LGUs and CSOs from the National Capital Region (NCR), Regions 3, 4A, 4B and 5 were invited for the said event. The Good Governance Dialogue is a two-day event wherein the 2015 National Budget was discussed on the first day and the Open Government Partnerships and Commitments on the second day.
A total number of 329 attended the dialogue. 92 from LGUs, 72 from CSOs, 4 from Business Sector, 13 from the Academe, 53 from National Government Agencies (NGAs), 26 from Regional NGAs.
The President of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso V. Umali, Jr., gave the opening remarks. Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio Abad presented the Budget Reforms that the current administration has implemented and how this help the national government achieved its growth over the past four years. DBM Undersecretary Luz Cantor then followed with a presentation of the FY 2015 National Expenditure Program (NEP) and Budget Priorities. The final speaker for the morning session was DBM Director Rolly Toledo, who discussed an overview of Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) Approach.
The afternoon of the Good Governance Dialogues Day 1 was a simultaneous break-out sessions in which the ZBB Studies of PIDS were presented to the LGUs and local CSOs.
The second day of the Good Governance Dialogue focused on the Open Government Partnership. It started with DBM Undersecretary Richard Moya on the discussion and overview of the Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Cluster and OGP. A message of support from one of the development partners, the USAID, was given by Deputy Director Reed Aeschliman. Director Aeschliman acknowledged the government's effort in Open Government Partnership, budget reforms and anti-corruption programs.
Two Talakayan sessions were done on the Day 2 morning session. Mr. Howie Severino, a well known journalist and currently GMA Networks Vice President for Professional Development served as the moderator.
First "Talakayan" Dialogue Session
The first talakayan session was about the Open Government Opportunities and Challenges. Invited guests were: Undersecretary Moya of DBM, Undersecretary Austere Panadero of Department of Interior and Local Government, Commission of Audit Chairperson Ma. Gracia Tan, Professor Solita Monsod of Movement for Good Governance and Mr. Peter Perfecto of the Makati Business Club.
Second "Talakayan" Dialogue Session
The second talakayan session was about the Notable Good Governance Practices of the Local Governments. Invited guests were Local Chief Executives who received awards and notable recognition from the national government on their initiatives on good governance, transparency and anti-corruption efforts. Invited guests were: ULAP President and Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali Jr., Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla, Carmona, Cavite Mayor Dahlia Loyola, Balanga, Bataan Mayor Joet Garcia and Marikina City Governor Del De Guzman.
The afternoon session of Day 2 started with an overview on co-created OGP Action Plan between the national government and the LGUs and Local CSOs. Ms. Ching Jorge of INCITEGov presented the said plan to the participants. A workshop and breakout session was done and the participants were divided per region. Each facilitator discussed the 9 commitments of the national government to the OGP and asked the participants on how they can help in achieving each commitment through their current projects and programs.
Each region presented their workshops output and a ceremonial handover of workshop outputs and materials was conducted. DBM Assistant Secretary Maxine Tanya Hamada accepted these in behalf of the national government. All participants were also asked to sign the commitment tarp of the OGP.
To end the two-day event, Atty Marlon Manuel, NAPC Vice Chairman for Basic Sectors, gave the closing remarks.
Good Governance Dialogue Visayas Leg, October 16-17, 2014 in Cebu City
The Good Governance Dialogue Visayas Leg was held on October 16-17, 2014 at Crown Regency Hotel and Towers in Cebu City. The participants for this leg, who are local chief executives, local CSOs and local representatives from national government agencies, media, business groups and international development partners, came from Regions 6, 7, and 8.
Good Governance Dialogue Northern Mindanao Leg, October 23-24, 2014 in Cagayan De Oro City
The Good Governance Dialogue Northern Mindanao Leg was held on October 23-24, 2014 at Limketkai Luxe Hotel, in Cagayan de Oro City. The participants for this leg, who are local chief executives, local CSOs and local representatives from national government agencies, media, business groups and international development partners, came from region 9, 10, and 13.
Good Governance Dialogue Mindanao Leg, November 6-7, 2014 in Davao City
The Good Governance Dialogue Mindanao Leg was held on November 6-7, 2014 at The Pinnacle Hotel and Suites in Davao City. The participants for this leg, who are local chief executives, local CSOs and local representatives from national government agencies, media, business groups and international development partners, came from region 11, 12, and ARMM.
Good Governance Dialogue Northern Luzon Leg, November 13-14, 2014 in Baguio City
The Good Governance Dialogue Northern Luzon Leg was held on November 13-14, 2014 at The City Lights Hotel in Baguio City. The participants for this leg, who are local chief executives, local CSOs and local representatives from national government agencies, media, business groups and international development partners, came from Region 1, Region 2, and CAR.
The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines is one of the members of the National Steering Committee of Philippine-Open Government Partnership (Ph-OGP). ULAP in partnership with the Office of the President, Department of Budget Management (DBM), USAID and INCITEGov , is currently organizing a series of regional fora entitled “Good Governance Dialogues.”
The Good Governance Dialogues is a series of fora that brings together national and local governments, civil society, business groups, academe, international development partners and media to discuss reforms on open governance and fiscal transparency. This is in line with the Philippine’s membership in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) – an international initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
This dialogue series is part of the continuing collaboration between government and non-government partners in promoting and sustaining the good governance reforms, following the success of the Good Governance Summit and Daylight Dialogue this year. The forum will be conducted in various regions of the country.
Partnership with Ayala Foundation and its alliance for mainstreaming Text2Teach
The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines is in various online news for mainstreaming Text2Teach. Click the following links below:
Foundation’s Tex2Teach to benefit public schools
Text to Teach is Now Running on its 10th Year
Mobile learning package Text2Teach celebrates 10th Anniversary
How mobile technology has bridged the education gap in PH
Text2teach Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Mainstream Implementation in the Philippines
Text2Teach in all public schools by 2016
ULAP participates in Open Government Partnership Regional Summit in Bali Indonesia, commits to co-creating Philippine Action Plan
[May 28, 2014] The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, as represented by its Executive Director Czarina Medina-Guce, participated in the Open Government Partnership Regional Summit in Bali Indonesia, on May 5-6. The Philippine contingent is composed of representatives from the Office of the President, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Budget and Management, House of Representatives, and partners from the civil society, academe, and business sectors.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance, through meaningful and collaborative work with civil society and other non-government sectors. The Philippines is a founding member of the OGP in 2011. ULAP is the local government representative to the national steering committee of the Philippine OGP.
Some of the current commitments of the Philippines in the OGP are the Seal of Good Local Governance, Open Data Philippines, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Grassroots Participatory Budgeting, and the Transparency Seal.
In her sharing in the Closing Plenary, Medina-Guce emphasized that in order for open governance to be effective and have impact, OGP must be owned by local governments. The relevance of OGP to ordinary citizen’s everyday consciousness will only happen if OGP will be brought to the frontlines, which is the domain of local governments. Local governments must work on OGP projects not just on the level of compliance to the national government, but local governments must be able to understand OGP and put their own stake and resources for innovative openness to happen.
Moving forward, ULAP will co-create the national action plan with the members of the steering committee, and advocate for intensified participation of local governments in OGP. Collaborative work with the Department of Budget and Management for the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting, and OGP-related fora with development partners, national agencies and civil society groups are currently being pursued, aside from the current work of ULAP in the OGP-Philippines commitments.
Bohol Standard for the Local Education Workshop, May 18 2014
“Magagaling kayo. Alam na ng national government ‘yan. Bidang-bida po kayo sa national discussions so we are here to consult with you.”
Czarina Medina-Guce, Executive Director of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), uttered these very inspiring words which lifted the spirits of the participants for the follow-up activity last Wednesday to the successful Bohol Education Convergence Summit held last April 23 in the Municipality of Dauis.
The Planning Workshop is to help support the “Development of a Model for Expanding Local Resources for Education in Local Government.”
Guce said that they chose Bohol because it has one of the best practices in local education in the country.
“We heard at the national level na hindi kayo nag-aaway dito sa Bohol; not like in other provinces. Bidang-bida kayo when we talk about education so we want to know what happens in Bohol,” Guce further elaborated.
She said that they are here to document the Bohol Model so they can identify appropriate steps in their upcoming projects.
Very well pleased with Guce’s well-deserved praises for Bohol, Gov. Edgar M. Chatto proudly explained that this is so in the province because our puroks are much stronger now than they were before due to the continued training and monitoring being done by the Countryside Development Program-Purok Power Movement (CDP-PPM) under the very able supervision of SEEM Cluster Head Liza Quirog.
The Local Education Workshop is a convergence of four agencies, namely: the Department of Education (DepEd), the Australian Agency for International Development – The Asia Foundation (AusAID-TAF), ULAP and the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh).
In looking at and understanding local education on the ground, the four agencies believe that they would be able to identify the best practices in local education governance.
Hence, by studying and understanding the Bohol Model, they believe that they would be able to document the process and replicate its lessons.
Gov. Chatto said that because the incumbent Provincial Leadership wants excellence for Bohol, it engages the help of all sectors to achieve total cooperation and collaboration in all its programs and projects.
In going down to the barangays and even to the purok level, relationships among the barangay officials, the PTA members, school officials and the community become closer and thus strengthened. This way, it is the people themselves who will own education, Chatto explained.
In relation to this, Guce admitted that one of their objectives for the workshop here is to document the Bohol Model of developing local alliances and expanding local resources for its education.
In their draft framework of the Bohol Model, they have noticed an innovation being implemented by the Provincial Government, called the Education Development Center (EDC), a unit solely mandated to monitor all activities regarding the province’s education system.
It is this innovation, she said, which serves as the link to all that’s happening in our cooperation and collaboration efforts and success that they want to delve deeper into, understand, and most probably, will use as model for the education system in the country. (jlv/EDCom)ULAP co-organized the summit in partnership with DepEd under the Coalitions for Change (CfC) for Education, a program under the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and The Asia Foundation (TAF) Partnership in the Philippines. Under CfC, Bohol serves as a model for provincial government’s expansion of local resources for education.
71st ULAP National Executive Board Meeting and Election
The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines held its National Executive Board Meeting and Election, last April 25 in Banyan, Cedar Function Room, Richmonde Hotel, Ortigas, Pasig City
For more photos of the event: Click Here
LGUs, DepEd to launch projects for out-of-school youth, underfed schoolchildren in Bohol
Bohol governor Edgardo Chatto together with the municipal mayors, Department of Education (DepEd) officials, and school supervisors signed a ‘Pledge of Commitment’ last April 23 during the 2014 Bohol Education Convergence Summit held in Panglao, Bohol to jointly work to solve the education-related issues and concerns of the province including malnutrition of poor school children, the need to assist edu (OSY), and reconstruction of earthquake-damaged school buildings. The summit was attended by 14 municipal mayors, 1 city councilor; with a total of 78 participants.
“In Bohol, education is everybody’s business. While the DepEd is the national agency and takes care of the whole program, as we move to the ground we feel that the stakeholders, whether officials, educators, parents, business sector must continue to work together. We are all part of this monumental effort,” said Governor Chatto.
In his ‘State of Bohol Education Report’, Chatto said that through local partnerships and the priority given by the provincial government to education, the province was recently awarded as “Best Implementor of DepEd’s School Building Program”.
He also mentioned the improvement of academic performance and reduced dropout rates in the province as a result of the Dynamic Learning Program (DLP), a teaching and learning approach used in 163 schools by more than 73,000 students across Bohol province.
He added that the Bohol provincial government recently signed an agreement with Synergeia Foundation for capacity-building and Local School Board support in selected pilot areas.
Despite these positive results, Governor Chatto emphasized the need for improved “convergence” to address the needs of under-nourished poor school children, out-of-school youth, and school buildings that were damaged by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Bohol in October 2013.
DepEd Undersecretary Mario Deriquito, in his briefing, said that the education department will work with local government units (LGUs) in Bohol to implement the Abot Alam Project and School-Based Feeding Program. He said that to achieve Deped’s goal of having “zero out-of-school youth” in the country by 2016, the Abot-Alam Project will be launched in Bohol to develop a comprehensive OSY database and introduce “program interventions in education, employment, and entrepreneurship”.
“For us partnerships are important because, first, it generates more resources. It also creates a community of supporters or constituency for Abot-Alam and school-based feeding. Also, partnerships or bayanihan contributes to nation-building, which is one of the goals of DepEd”, Deriquito said.
David Dutton, the Australian Embassy’s deputy head of mission also attended the summit and said that, “...the Australian government is proud to be a long-term development partner of Bohol and that the provincial government working with local and national authorities, the private sector, and various communities is an effective way of addressing challenges in public school education.” Dutton also said that the Australian government is “very keen to support” projects that would help improve the quality of education in Bohol province.
Czarina Medina-Guce, Executive Director of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) said that the summit aims to enhance “collaborative planning and the formation of local alliances for education in Bohol”. She said that ULAP will continue working with LGUs in Bohol, Jollibee Group Foundation, and DepEd for the implementation of the Abot-Alam and School-Based Feeding Program as part of the convergence initiatives of ULAP for LGUs in the province.
She added that a follow-up workshop will be in held in May 14-15 in Bohol to enable LGUs and DepEd officials in Bohol to make more detailed implementation plans for joint education projects based on targets set during the April 23 education summit.
ULAP co-organized the summit in partnership with DepEd under the Coalitions for Change (CfC) for Education, a program under the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and The Asia Foundation (TAF) Partnership in the Philippines. Under CfC, Bohol serves as a model for provincial government’s expansion of local resources for education.
