Social Watch Philippines – Alternative Budget Initiative (SWP-ABI) members Thursday hailed House Committee on People’s Participation Chairman Benjamin Asilo, House Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada III and members of the committee for pushing genuine democracy by passing a bill that will institutionalize people’s participation in the national and local government budget processes. The committee finalized House Bill 219: An Act Institutionalizing the Participation of Bona Fide People’s Organizations, Non-Government Organizations, or Private/Civic Sector Groups in Public Hearings in Congress and Local Government Units in Budget Deliberations after National Government Agencies (NGAs) and non-government organizations (NGOs) expressed their approval of the bill during a committee hearing held Thursday at the House of Representatives.
“Members of SWP/ABI look up to Rep. Lorenzo Tañada who authored the bill together with then Rep. Teofisto Guingona III and Rep. Benjamin Asilo who worked on this bill upon assuming chairmanship of the Committee on People’s Participation as champions of democracy. There will only be democracy if people are able to directly influence decisions and priorities on how public funds work for their own development and this bill institutionalizes it,” said former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of SWP, which organized the ABI.
SWP-ABI and Tañada III started collaborating on the bill on people’s participation in the budget process in 2008 together with then Rep. Teofisto Guingona III.
The bill allows bona fide NGOs and peoples’ organizations to submit the alternative budget proposals and propose alternative sources of financing. It also requires NGAs to conduct public consultations with concerned stakeholders on their agency’s proposed budget before submitting it to the Department of Budget and Management.
At the same time, municipal and city mayors are required to hold consultations on the proposed budget of the local government units with their constituents before submitting it to the local Sanggunian.
“Filipinos should be proud that the Alternative Budget Initiative led by Social Watch Philippines is acknowledged globally as one of the best practices of people’s participation. It is only in the Philippines that NGOs submit alternative budget proposals that could be adopted by legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives for the national budget,” Tañada told the NGA representatives present during the meeting on the bill including the Departments of Interior and Local Government, Education, Health, National Defense, Social Welfare and Development, Budget and Management, and the National Economic and Development Authority.
Marvyn Benaning, Manila Bulletin
