On October 18-19, 2016, the Union of LocalAuthorities of the Philippines (ULAP) project team headed by Director for Plans, Programs and Policy Mr. Genixon David met with various Palawan stakeholders for the Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries in the Sub-National Level Project. The team, together with provincial government representative, Mr. Glenn Vallejos met with Hon. Jose C. Alvarez, Governor of the Province of Palawan, Mr. Artolin Edlap, the IP Representative to the Sanggunian Municipality of Bataraza and Ms.Jocelyn Mabuyao, President of Kalipunan ng Liping Pilipina Palawan Chapter. The meeting-consultation focused on giving an overview of the project, thus getting buy-in from the aforementioned stakeholders. More so, the ULAP project team looked into the local experiences, context, stories and concerns of various stakeholders affected by the Extractive Industries. The shares from the extractive industries (EI) are important to local governments as these shares are utilized to finance local development and livelihood projects for their constituents.
The project, which won during the Global Innovation Competition and is funded by Making All Voices Count (MAVC) and Hivos International, is considered to be the first in the Philippines to use an innovation approach in conducting extractive industry transparency initiatives at the local level and to provide an avenue for localized decision-making and agenda-setting of the project sites. The project aims to (a) bring together all of the stakeholders through the creation of the Multi-Stakeholder Group for a collaborative effort to spearhead the innovation and yield context-based information on the industry and the issues at the local level, (b) facilitate info-mediation both in the national and local levels through the innovative technology-based platforms, and (c) enhance citizen engagement and participation in agenda-setting and policy-making and in translating local government shares from EI to projects and programs that will address the communities’ perceived needs.
The meeting-consultation paved the way for local EI stakeholders to understand, appreciate and commit to the project objectives. Next activities for the project include Capacity Development Trainings and Design Thinking Workshop on January and February 2017, respectively.
