Suchergebnisse

The Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) is a data collection system designed to methodically process and integrate local government data for monitoring both micro impacts of macroeconomic shocks and multidimensional poverty (Partnership for Economic Policy 2018). It aims to address existing data gaps in diagnosing the extent of poverty at the local level, to aid determination of the causes of poverty, formulation of appropriate policies and program, identification of eligible beneficiaries and assessing impact of policies and programs. It also supports the decentralization process by capacitating LGUs to collect, analyze and use data in local planning and program implementation. The main objective of this study is to examine if and how CBMS is used in the drafting the local Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP). By understanding the current planning process, areas for improvement could be identified to improve the quality of local development planning and lead to more efficient use of scarce public resources. How has the CBMS been used and implemented in recent local government development planning? What are possible areas of improvement? To answer these questions, a nationwide survey was conducted for 1,373 municipalities. The results show that majority of municipalities use CBMS, not just for, ecological profiling in development planning but also for LGU budget preparations and priority setting. Local governments allocate funds for CBMS data collection (primarily to hire data enumerators), but not regularly so. Furthermore, there was evidence that there could be improved utilization of existing CBMS data and indicators. These results seem to suggest that municipal development planning practices generally follow DILG-prescribed development planning and recognizes the importance of this being evidence-based. At the same time, there are some areas of improvement such as reorientation of local planners with the CBMS, available indicators and utilization of these as well recognizing the need for regularly updating information for more relevant and impactful development policies.

Philippine local governments were given increased autonomy, revenue-raising and expenditure responsibilities under the Local Government Code of 1991 (LGC). At the same time, the LGC instituted the intergovernmental fiscal transfer called the internal revenue allotment (IRA) to help to help local governments fulfill their mandates recognizing fiscal imbalance in devolved functions. Apart from this, national government provides additional assistance to local governments through programs lodged in different agencies that are meant for devolved infrastructure services. This study examines these national government programs, evolution and expenditure trends and surveys the literature of assessments of these programs. Understanding the evolution in the design and implementation of these programs would be a powerful tool moving forward with strengthened decentralization, especially in designing policy for national government oversight agencies and for any envisioned support programs of national government. In the past decade, the three programs that received the largest budgetary allocations, are the Department of Public Works and Highways' Local Infrastructure Program, Department of Agriculture's Farm to Market Road programs and the Department of the Interior and Local Government's Financial Subsidy to Local Government Units (LGUs). Though expenditures on these programs have been increasing as a whole, there have been no clear trends for the individual programs except for one performance-based program. Furthermore, several programs were initially targeted toward poorer LGUs but eventually expanded in coverage because of the low uptake of these targeted LGUs. These national government programs have almost 100% budget utilization rates compared to lower utilization rates of local development funds (which are the primary source of infrastructure investments of LGUs). This, combined with the evidence of low uptake of assistance programs by poorer LGUs, offer two clear considerations for policymakers in strengthening local government oversight especially if the assistance programs will be discontinued. First, ensure that local governments will spend on infrastructure, i.e. at the very least spend the mandated local development fund. Infrastructure spending has the largest impact on incomes and in jumpstarting the economy and the path to growth would be arduous if this slows down as a result of insufficient local government investments absent national government programs. Second, if policymakers decide to maintain a more targeted assistance program, its objective, criteria and monitoring and evaluating plan should be clear. It should be complementary and aligned with the assistance programs of the Seal of Good Local Governance and Community-Based Monitoring System Laws to be efficient in the use of public funds. The goal moving in recovering from COVID coupled with the implementation of the Mandanas ruling is how to protect the vulnerable with social safety nets but also ensure that local governments contribute to economic recovery, of which infrastructure spending brings the largest multiplier effect.

Why, after more than twenty-five years of decentralization, are Philippine local government units (LGUs) at varied levels of development? How does the literature explain this phenomenon? This paper surveys empirical literature on Philippine decentralization with the aim to gather insights as well as distill stylized facts emerging from the evidence explaining local government performance and development. Looking at history, political science, economic and institutional perspectives, the role of past events and the evolution of local government institutions, politicians and voters evidently in influencing current decentralization dynamics became evident. Though mandates and laws are the same across local governments, except perhaps for the autonomous regions, some of these mandates were identified as limitations affecting performance. Political and socioeconomic differences across LGUs have also been offered as explanations. What seems to be promising is the recent trend in examining Philippine governance and the roles of policymakers and voters more deterministically. Patronage and political dynasties have similar origins and, at present, are studied as reasons behind varied local government performance. Evidence has shown that certain activities used to perpetuate patronage and dynasties (also called family networks) such as coercion through vote-buying (also defined as clientelistic goods) were found to affect the provision and in one case, negatively affect the quality of public services. On the other hand, studies have also shown that publicly provided private/clientelistic goods such as social services are preferred by voters or are distributed by incumbent politicians who are members of political dynasties facing their last term in office. [.]

Aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 to "ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all", the Philippine Development Plan 2017–2022 recognizes the importance of water supply and sanitation (WSS) in accelerating the country's infrastructure development. The National Economic Development Authority's Philippine Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plan 2019–2030 presents actions for universal access to safe WSS by 2030. Although national and international goals are already in place to attain water security, water service delivery remains devolved and dependent on local governments. The sector also receives uneven public investments through the national government. With the implementation of the Mandanas ruling affirmed by the Supreme Court, which gives local governments increased grants, strengthened devolved functions, and reduced program assistance from the national government, water service delivery will continue to be the local governments' responsibility. For decades, the literature has emphasized the need to address fragmentation among water institutions and in regulations that have resulted in uneven and inefficient investments. This study explains fragmentation by answering the question: "What institutional and regulatory factors affect the magnitude of investments in the local water sector?" It presents the current potable water access in the country and shows the resultant uneven public investments. It reviews the current mandates of the two main regulating bodies for potable water access in local communities and identifies various overlaps and ambiguities in managing the sector. The results show the need to streamline and align the sector's unclear economic and technical regulations with its operating standards to avoid fragmentation. In addition, investment coordination must be improved to ensure strategic investments and efficient use of limited financing. There should be a consolidated and complete database of water service providers, as well as ...

Aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 to "ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all", the Philippine Development Plan 2017–2022 recognizes the importance of water supply and sanitation (WSS) in accelerating the country's infrastructure development. The National Economic Development Authority's Philippine Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plan 2019–2030 presents actions for universal access to safe WSS by 2030. Although national and international goals are already in place to attain water security, water service delivery remains devolved and dependent on local governments. The sector also receives uneven public investments through the national government. With the implementation of the Mandanas ruling affirmed by the Supreme Court, which gives local governments increased grants, strengthened devolved functions, and reduced program assistance from the national government, water service delivery will continue to be the local governments' responsibility. For decades, the literature has emphasized the need to address fragmentation among water institutions and in regulations that have resulted in uneven and inefficient investments. This study explains fragmentation by answering the question: "What institutional and regulatory factors affect the magnitude of investments in the local water sector?" It presents the current potable water access in the country and shows the resultant uneven public investments. It reviews the current mandates of the two main regulating bodies for potable water access in local communities and identifies various overlaps and ambiguities in managing the sector. The results show the need to streamline and align the sector's unclear economic and technical regulations with its operating standards to avoid fragmentation. In addition, investment coordination must be improved to ensure strategic investments and efficient use of limited financing. There should be a consolidated and complete database of water service providers, as well as ...

The Performance Challenge Fund (PCF), established by the DILG in 2010, is a performance-based incentive program that gives financial subsidies to local government units (LGUs) that are awarded with the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) (DILG MC No. 2017-160). It may be used for projects that are aligned with national government priorities, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), improved solid waste management, disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM), and tourism and local economic development. Almost a decade after its introduction, how has the PCF evolved and been appreciated by local governments? Facing challenges such as budgetary constraints and the presence of other national government programs that offer support to local governments, is there a need for improvements in the design of the PCF and what are these areas that might foster improved governance for all local governments? To answer these questions, this study uses the results of a nationwide survey of all municipalities in the Philippines. The survey focused on the perceptions of core members of the municipal planning team on the usefulness and importance of the PCF. It provided evidence on how majority of the local government respondents appreciated the PCF and recognized its importance. But the evidence also showed that about 20% of surveyed municipalities were never eligible to receive the PCF. Most of these municipalities were from the 5th and 6th Income Class, concentrated in the Bicol, Central and Eastern Visayas regions. In addition, there were some LGUs that were either consistently or not consistent recipients of the PCF. These results must be considered by policymakers especially with the recent passage of the Seal of Good Local Governance Law.

The Philippine government provides various intergovernmental fiscal transfers to local government units (LGUs). Mandated by the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991, the unconditional grant known as internal revenue allotment (IRA) is given to help LGUs bridge the fiscal gap between their capacity to raise revenues and perform devolved services. LGUs can receive conditional grants for certain priorities, such as budgetary allocations from national government programs. Other conditional grants depend on the LGUs' (1) matching counterpart spending and (2) requirements or characteristics. An example of the latter is the Performance Challenge Fund (PCF). In the past decade, the intergovernmental conditional grant program has become an incentive to elicit an improved level of governance among LGUs. Eligibility to the PCF grant depends on the level of governance defined by the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG). LGUs need to satisfy a list of criteria in key areas of governance to get the seal. However, on top of the eligibility requirements, the PCF mandates that it must be spent for identified national government priorities. This study examines the views of municipal development planning officials on the conditional grant program based on a survey of 1,373 municipalities. It aims to guide policymakers in the implementation of the SGLG Act of 2019. The results show that the majority of planning officials recognize the importance of improving governance in municipalities and appreciate the incentives of the program. However, some expressed that the cost of receiving the seal outweighed its benefits. Poorer LGUs are also left behind in governance and face difficulty in complying with the program's requirements.

Despite almost three decades of Philippine decentralization, local governments continue experience varied levels of development and face challenges in delivering devolved basic services. At the same time, the national government has been continuously providing various forms of support for local governments to carry out devolved functions to build their capacity towards genuine fiscal autonomy. One major challenge faced in assessing the impact of the various interventions is the lack of baseline data. This current study aimed to identify policy and governance gaps in infrastructure and planning to provide baseline data on key areas and current planning practices of local governments to provide the necessary information for taking the next steps in decentralization. This report covers 1,373 municipalities and establishes baseline information on fiscal gaps in local roads, evacuation centers and rural health units. This study also documents governance gaps in development planning through a survey of planning practices vis-à-vis the DILGprescribed process of these municipalities. These are all done within the context of current local development instruments and performance monitoring systems reviewed during the initial stages of the drafting of this report. The desk review highlighted low revenue effort as well as inadequate utilization of mandated funds for development across municipalities. These facts contribute to delayed local development and have been attributed to poor planning such as lack of detail on development projects, lack of coordination and poor monitoring. The fiscal gaps estimated in this study were based on the submissions of 91% (or 1,248 of 1,373) of municipalities on infrastructure in the key areas existing in 2017. Computations were made on the objectives (1) to pave all municipal roads existing in 2017; (2) build one primary evacuation center for all geographically and isolated (GIDA) areas; and (3) construct one rural health unit for every 20,000 Filipinos. Some of the identified governance gaps in development planning included: (1) the need to enforce compliance with the mandate requiring LGUs to update their multi-sectoral development plans regularly since it was found that only 40% surveyed municipalities have recent comprehensive development plans (CDP); (2) revisiting the basis for establishing the current situation of a locality since the results showed that 57% of municipalities use the Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS) for ecological profiling but did not do so regularly and exhaustively; (3) the need for improved project readiness both in terms of establishing the feasibility of projects as well as the priority since the results showed that about half of the municipalities always prepared project briefs and did the prescribed second round of prioritization; and, (4) strengthen the capacity development programs of which 82% of municipalities claim to have for the implementation of the CDP and particularly for monitoring and evaluation strategies where only 38.4% of the respondents answered in the affirmative.

The Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) is a data collection system designed to methodically process and integrate local government data for monitoring both micro impacts of macroeconomic shocks and multidimensional poverty (Partnership for Economic Policy 2018). It aims to address existing data gaps in diagnosing the extent of poverty at the local level, to aid determination of the causes of poverty, formulation of appropriate policies and program, identification of eligible beneficiaries and assessing impact of policies and programs. It also supports the decentralization process by capacitating LGUs to collect, analyze and use data in local planning and program implementation. The main objective of this study is to examine if and how CBMS is used in the drafting the local Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP). By understanding the current planning process, areas for improvement could be identified to improve the quality of local development planning and lead to more efficient use of scarce public resources. How has the CBMS been used and implemented in recent local government development planning? What are possible areas of improvement? To answer these questions, a nationwide survey was conducted for 1,373 municipalities.

Executive Order No. 27 Series of 2017 mandated all government agencies and instrumentalities, including all local government units (LGUs), to implement the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) and Public Investment Program (PIP) for the period 2017-2022. This triggered the PDP localization efforts of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and National Economic Development Authority in 2017. Aimed at aligning local development plans with the PDP, the exercise produced results matrices (RMs) for provinces and LGUs in the National Capital Region (NCR). But even beyond the alignment of development plans, the RMs show how LGUs (1) contribute to national development through their programs and projects and (2) inform oversight agencies of their priorities and needs. This study reviews how recent efforts to ensure the alignment of provincial/NCR LGUs to national development goals fared and how effective were recent PDP and PDP results matrices (PDP/RM) localization efforts. This study used a mixed-methods approach, sequential parallel analysis, and process evaluation, focusing primarily on summarizing and evaluating the drafted RMs and engaging in key informant interviews to gather perceptions on the conduct of the PDP localization efforts and suggestions for improvements. The summarized LGU RMs of the report show how these are a powerful tool that could help identify priority areas, monitor progress, collectively inform strategic investments, and surface areas that LGUs may need oversight support from the national government. The PDP localization exercise was also well received by interviewed local officials, helping them to recognize their contribution to national development. Moving forward, there is a need to strengthen information and education campaigns, strengthen human resource capacities, and make indicator data more available. Finally, this exercise should be included in the broader thrust of being able to link plans and investment programs to outputs and their contribution to national outcomes.

Philippine local governments were given increased autonomy, revenue-raising and expenditure responsibilities under the Local Government Code of 1991 (LGC). At the same time, the LGC instituted the intergovernmental fiscal transfer called the internal revenue allotment (IRA) to help to help local governments fulfill their mandates recognizing fiscal imbalance in devolved functions. Apart from this, national government provides additional assistance to local governments through programs lodged in different agencies that are meant for devolved infrastructure services. This study examines these national government programs, evolution and expenditure trends and surveys the literature of assessments of these programs. Understanding the evolution in the design and implementation of these programs would be a powerful tool moving forward with strengthened decentralization, especially in designing policy for national government oversight agencies and for any envisioned support programs of national government. In the past decade, the three programs that received the largest budgetary allocations, are the Department of Public Works and Highways' Local Infrastructure Program, Department of Agriculture's Farm to Market Road programs and the Department of the Interior and Local Government's Financial Subsidy to Local Government Units (LGUs). Though expenditures on these programs have been increasing as a whole, there have been no clear trends for the individual programs except for one performance-based program. Furthermore, several programs were initially targeted toward poorer LGUs but eventually expanded in coverage because of the low uptake of these targeted LGUs. [.]

The Performance Challenge Fund (PCF), established by the DILG in 2010, is a performance-based incentive program that gives financial subsidies to local government units (LGUs) that are awarded with the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) (DILG MC No. 2017-160). It may be used for projects that are aligned with national government priorities, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), improved solid waste management, disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM), and tourism and local economic development. Almost a decade after its introduction, how has the PCF evolved and been appreciated by local governments? Facing challenges such as budgetary constraints and the presence of other national government programs that offer support to local governments, is there a need for improvements in the design of the PCF and what are these areas that might foster improved governance for all local governments? To answer these questions, this study uses the results of a nationwide survey of all municipalities in the Philippines. The survey focused on the perceptions of core members of the municipal planning team on the usefulness and importance of the PCF. It provided evidence on how majority of the local government respondents appreciated the PCF and recognized its importance. But the evidence also showed that about 20% of surveyed municipalities were never eligible to receive the PCF. Most of these municipalities were from the 5th and 6th Income Class, concentrated in the Bicol, Central and Eastern Visayas regions. In addition, there were some LGUs that were either consistently or not consistent recipients of the PCF. These results must be considered by policymakers especially with the recent passage of the Seal of Good Local Governance Law.

Despite almost three decades of Philippine decentralization, local governments continue experience varied levels of development and face challenges in delivering devolved basic services. At the same time, the national government has been continuously providing various forms of support for local governments to carry out devolved functions to build their capacity towards genuine fiscal autonomy. One major challenge faced in assessing the impact of the various interventions is the lack of baseline data. This current study aimed to identify policy and governance gaps in infrastructure and planning to provide baseline data on key areas and current planning practices of local governments to provide the necessary information for taking the next steps in decentralization. This report covers 1,373 municipalities and establishes baseline information on fiscal gaps in local roads, evacuation centers and rural health units. This study also documents governance gaps in development planning through a survey of planning practices vis-à-vis the DILGprescribed process of these municipalities. These are all done within the context of current local development instruments and performance monitoring systems reviewed during the initial stages of the drafting of this report. The desk review highlighted low revenue effort as well as inadequate utilization of mandated funds for development across municipalities. These facts contribute to delayed local development and have been attributed to poor planning such as lack of detail on development projects, lack of coordination and poor monitoring.