Development Goals. In here, the strength of local autonomy and efficient local governance are again put to test.

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1 Good Afternoon. Let me start my discussion by citing the Local Government Code of 1991 which, I should say, ushered in renewed enthusiasm among the local government units. After long years of highly centralized governance, the Code has enshrined the policy of local autonomy in the Philippine Constitution and has spread throughout the country. We have witnessed LGUs rising to the challenge and now, we see several of them basking in the glory of local autonomy and self-reliance, as they are now empowered to develop their communities and perform major functions devolved to them by the national government. Of course, there are others which are still undergoing some difficult and contentious period. While this is true in some parts of the country, their numbers are dwindling. In fact, local governance is a complex process as all of us are also in the same process of shedding off decades of centralized governance. At the turn of the new millennium, local governments are facing another challenge as the country joins the international bandwagon of Millennium Development Goals. In here, the strength of local autonomy and efficient local governance are again put to test. 1

2 The Philippines has 76 million people as of year Its population is growing at 2.36 percent annually. Over the years, poverty incidence has declined but remained above 30 %. Today, we have about 84 million Filipinos. There is large regional and provincial differences in poverty situation among regions. x Poverty is more widespread in the rural areas and in some places like Central Mindanao and in Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). 2

3 Poverty incidence has steadily declined from 44.2 in to 31.8% in However, the combined effects of the Asian financial crisis and the El Nino in caused poverty incidence to go up to 34% in

4 Share of rural poverty is high but proportion of urban poverty is significant - Poverty is more widespread in the rural areas. Rural areas accounts for 60-80% of the over-all poverty situation while 20-40% is attributed to urban poverty. 4

5 Large regional and provincial differences exist. NCR has a poverty incidence of 7.6 while ARMM has the highest with 62.9., followed by Regions V and XII and Caraga. 5

6 The Philippines, as UN-member, is a signatory to the Millennium Declaration and has committed to craft its Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) around the MDGs. By committing to this declaration, it does not mean that the country is simply py keeping pace with the rest of the developing world, but ensuring that we are able to maximize all available resources in providing the right policy framework and the right environment for helping our people gain access to the best quality of life possible. As the goals are holistic and interrelated, the process of working together in partnership p at the national, regional and local levels is very important. Meeting the requirements for MDGs will entail collaborative efforts of major, stakeholders the national and local government units (LGUs) as well as the private sector for interventions geared toward mainstreaming the MDGs in the local development agenda. 6

7 Local Government Units as frontline institutions in responding to the increasing service delivery requirements of their constituents has the primary responsibility in the provision of basic services and improvement of quality of life. Under Sec 16 of the Local Government Code of 1991, promotion of public health and safety, enhancement of people s right to a balanced ecology, enhancement of economic prosperity and social justice, promotion of full employment among the residents, maintenance of peace and order and preservation of the comfort and convenience of the inhabitants, among others, are the mandates of LGUs. The Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act of 1997 gives the LGus the frontline role in the fight against poverty. The law tasks the LGUs to be responsible in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Anti-Poverty Reduction Agenda within their area of jurisdiction. Along with function, are the following: 1.) identification of the poor using area-based indicators 2.) identify funding source for poverty alleviation projects 3.) coordinate and monitor poverty alleviation efforts. 7

8 Indeed, the fight against poverty requires the full involvement of the LGUs in poverty reduction efforts in the country. LGUs play the critical role in poverty reduction. In order to assist the LGUs, support mechanisms were provided to them to be active partners of the national government in poverty reduction efforts. First LGUs are encouraged to formulate their Local Poverty Reduction Action Plans/Agenda and prioritize local budget for focused interventions for the poor and vulnerable sectors. A set of LGUs options to address the MDGs have been identified, and LGUs could allocate their limited resources to these menu of services. Second, improve delivery of basic services by replicating award-winning innovations of other LGUs in providing the effective, efficient services to their constituents. Third, for LGUs to pursue institutional reforms at the local level such as Barangay Governance Reforms, designation of LPRAOs/LPRATs (DILG already issued MCs), encourage participation of basic sectors, and assistance of people s organizations. And LGUs have to institutionalize a local monitoring system for poverty diagnosis, planning and tracking down resources for poverty projects. 8

9 The Millennium Declaration calls for the increased public spending together with a reallocation of such spending in favor of basic services in education, health care, reproductive health, nutrition, early childcare, social welfare, low cost water supply and sanitation. With significant chunk of public expenditure decisions i made at the locall levels, l the responsibility of realizing the MDGs rests on local governments. This underlines the indispensable role of local governments in the provision of these basic services. 9

10 The 13 core local poverty indicators took-off from the gains of the different local poverty monitoring systems existing at the local level (e.g. MBN-CBIS, MBN-CBPIMS, IRAP, MIMAP-CBMS) LGUs may add other indicators or use proxy indicators for some of the indicators to monitor area-specific concerns The 13 core local poverty indicators were institutionalized at the local level through the following: NAPC En Banc Resolution 7 adopting the 13 core indicators was approved on 19 March 2003 (7th NAPC En Banc Meeting) DILG MC providing for adoption of the CLPI in local l planning To harmonize the CLPI with MDGs, a maternal mortality indicator was added to make it 13+1 indicators. 10

11 The 8 major dimensions of poverty were identified based on the review of experiences of using the different monitoring system. These 8 dimensions were classified as survival, security and enabling needs. A set of core indicators were selected as sensitive measurements of poverty. 11

12 The Core Local Poverty Indicators (CLPIs) are the minimum set of thirteen (13) carefully selected human development and income-based indicators which can be used poverty diagnosis and planning. An additional indicator on maternal health was included to harmonized the CLPI with the MDGs. Shown are the (13 CLPI +1) indicators that may be used to assess LGUs baseline information towards MDGs. 12

13 In conclusion, role of local governments is very crucial to the attainment of the goals under the Millennium Declaration. The local governments, being the frontline service providers of most basic services to the people can contribute largely to the achievement of country s commitment t on MDG. This underscores the need to encourage local governments to reallocate resources towards basic social services and intensify efforts towards the implementation of MDG-responsive programs, projects and activities. Towards this end, an effective local monitoring system for local government units have to be established to assist them to target appropriate and responsive interventions for poverty reduction and human development. There might be a need to harmonize and integrate some of the existing tools inorder for data to be compared across municipalities, cities and provinces; and to be able to aggregate data to higher level LGUs. Futhermore, LGUs have to be assisted to put such information system in place and generate accurate local data and information to be able to respond to the needs of their constituents objectively and effectively. 13

14 Our challenge our however, since their already a system ready for the use of the LGUs, the main issue remains to be addressed, these concerns the actual use of the monitoring tool, local government units have to assisted to put in-placed an effective local monitoring tools, as such: Implementing cost effective methods of actual data gathering and data processing, and building of LGU data bank Harnessing local institutions to support data gathering/analysis and planning preparation 14

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19 Thank you! 19