Despite the recent typhoon and flood that hit Negros Oriental, some local government units are bent on pushing through with the workshop that involves the civil society organizations in local public finance, according to Code: RED (Reforms for Economic Development).
Code: RED said that the local government unit of Valencia led by Mayor Enrique Gonzales and its CSOs joined forces in a workshop called Getting People Involved in the Local Kaban ng Bayan. The two-day workshop was held Jan. 4-5.
Another workshop, this time the participants are the local government unit of San Jose and its CSOs was held on Jan. 6-7.
Code: RED engaged the expertise of the country’s public finance experts topbilled by Social Watch Lead Covenor and former UP Prof. Leonor Magtolis-Briones.
Briones, who was also former national treasurer, said that CSOs will be trained to effectively participate in the local public finance process. Local public process involves analyzing public finance records, tracking expenditures and proposing alternative ways to raise revenues for the LGUs.
“The workshop will also help LGU executives engaged CSOs on revenue and expenditure management, opening an opportunity to work together in enhancing transparency,” Code: RED said.
Code: RED sees the two-day capacity building workshop for CSOs as a venue to present the basics of local finance, discuss the importance of the citizens’ understanding of local finance, identify where, under the Local Government Code, can CSOs participate in the budget deliberations, and cite experiences in other countries/areas where CSO participation led to positive outcomes.
Moreover, the workshop aims to involve more actively the municipal planning officer, treasurer and budget officer in the development plan, revenue sources and budget allocation, identify additional revenue sources and priority spending ad draw out the response and commitments from local government officials.
The workshop is part of the British Embassy-supported project called Increasing Transparency in Local Governance through Informed Citizens’ Participation in Public Finance.
This gives “voice” to people, enables civil society to become partners of government, and makes the government more responsive to the needs of citizens,” the NGO added.
The project comes in sync with the memorandum circular issued by the Department of Interior & Local Government last year. Memorandum Circular 2010-83 requires all LGUs to submit and post sources of income, budgets, expenditures, contracts and loans as well as procurement plans.
Full disclosure of local budget and finances is central in institutionalizing good governance, transparency and accountability in light of the annual internal revenue allotment to LGUs and other sources of income. In 2011 alone, the IRA amounted P287 billion or about 20 percent of the national budget. Other sources of income for LGUs amount to an estimated P60 billion (£1 billion) annually.
