Bottom-up Budgeting at the Barangay Level

Standing true to its slogan “Budget ng Bayan sa Kamay ng Taumbayan”, Bottom-up Budgeting (BuB) is set to be implemented at the barangay level soon.

Secretary Mel Senen S. Sarmiento of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said that Barangay BuB will empower both barangays and citizens by involving them in deciding what projects they need thereby promoting people’s participation and accountability in government.

The impact of such project, Sarmiento said, is that by providing some means to the barangays for them to be able to implement projects on their own, they will be taught how to go about following procurement law, following the budget law and regulations, and improving their governance at the barangay level.

“This is part of making good governance directly seen, felt and benefited by Filipinos in their communities,” he added.

At present, BUB is being implemented at the city and municipal levels.

Launched in 2012, BuB is a program that strengthens participation in national budget formulation and project implementation. Before BuB, decisions were made at the top. Now, local communities with their local government units (LGUs) are given the power to decide on what priority projects should be implemented in their areas.

This December, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) created a Technical Working Group (TWG) for the pre-implementation phase of Barangay BuB in 2017. This is anchored on the principle that barangays should be empowered and this is to encourage the active participation of the CSOs in the budgeting process. The TWG will craft the implementing guidelines of Barangay BuB.

Richard L. Villacorte, Project Manager of the DILG BuB Project Management Office, said that in reference to the present form of BuB whose budget is endowed on a per city and municipality basis, Barangay BuB will be dealing with barangays themselves. It will not pass through the municipal government or provincial government, but will be directly downloaded from the national government to the barangay level, he added.

“When we say bottom-up budgeting, the barangay is more bottom, more grassroot than the municipal civil society organizations (CSOs),” he said.

Atty. Edmund R. Abesamis, National President of the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas, said, “This is a realization of what the Liga has been pushing for, that is empowerment of barangays. Under the Barangay BuB, the capabilities of barangays to implement projects funded by the national government will take place already.”

Abesamis said that the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas is being consulted for the preparation of implementing Barangay BuB and that they are fully cooperating for the smooth and glitch-free execution of this much sought after project. (Original Post Title: Bottom-up Budgeting going more grassroot at barangay-level)

Editor's Notes: I hope and pray that this will usher in the beginning of a new era when communities become more empowered in shaping their own fiscal destinies - to be free from the manipulations of some people at the top for their own political agendas.  What do you think? 

Best Lupon in the Country from Barangay in Southern Leyte

 By Mark L. Rimas

Barangay Hingatungan of Silago, Southern Leyte, was recently selected the National Champion for barangays among 4th to 6th class municipalities in the 2014 Lupong Tagamapayapa Incentives Award held at the Marriott Hotel last September 28.

Punong Barangay Alberto M. Orias who represented the barangay received the cash prize of 300,000 pesos and a trophy. This was the fourth time Hingatungan has won the awardhaving won it in 2001, 2007, 2012 and 2014.

A National Awards Committee composed of officials from the Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Justice, Supreme Court, National Police Commission and Liga ng mga Barangay chose the winners from lupons nationwide based on the barangay Lupon’s Efficiency in Operations, Effectiveness in obtaining the Objectives of the program; and Creativity and Resourcefulness of the Lupong Tagapamayapa.

"The Lupong Tagapamayapa is a big help in facilitating the speedy administration of justice in the barangays and has also been a big help to our courts and has saved the government billions of pesos," according to DILG Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento. (Reposted from Southern Leyte Times, Oct.2, 2015 as Silago Barangay has Best Lupon in the Country)

DILG to Implement Online Reporting of Barangays

Punong barangays, barangay secretaries and appropriation committee chairpersons are undergoing training at Amenia Beach Resort in San Andres town this September by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) provincial office in preparation for the launching of the Electronic Barangay Governance Performance Measurement System (e-BGPMS).

DILG Catanduanes provincial director Uldarico Razal Jr. said that the concerned barangay officials are being provided vital knowledge on e-BGPMS, an online reporting system for all barangays which measures its performance in terms of service delivery and compliance to the provisions of the 1991 Local Government Code and other related issuances.

Through the system, city and municipal governments, which exercise supervision over their component barangays, and the barangays themselves will be provided with a clear picture of the governance performance of barangays, particularly in the areas of Administration, Social Services, Economic Development and Environmental Management.

Aside from providing the LGU with vital data or inputs in the accomplishments of the data requirements of their own LGPMS, the e-BGPS will also guide the municipal government in the formulation of integrated policies, plans and programs that would lead to the barangay’s efficient delivery of basic services and effective discharge of its functions and responsibilities. 

Under BGPMS, barangays are expected to come up with their State of Barangay Governance Report or SGBR.

Razal added that, once implemented, the program will serve as the basis for the national government and policymakers in formulating policy that would rationalize assistance to barangays. Source:  Philippine Information Agency

Bangsamoro Holds Barangay Community Development Orientation

In line with the full speed implementation of the Community Development in Conflict-affected Areas in Mindanao (CD-CAAM) extension phase, a barangay-wide orientation was recently conducted on August 5, 2015 at Barangay Balut, Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao facilitated by Bangsamoro Development Agency-Central Mindanao (BDA-CeMin) Region.

The barangay-wide orientation aimed to guide the community stakeholders of the barangay particularly the beneficiaries of this project, on the implementation of fish pond project in their community.

The participants of this activity were composed of representatives from local government units (LGU) of Sultan Mastura and Brgy. Balut; Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) organized groups such as the Political Committee (PolCom) for Maguindanao Province, Social Welfare Committee, and Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), and Municipal Catalyst of BDA-CenMin in this town.

During the orientation, the project staff emphasized, “this barangay-wide orientation also includes selection of thirty (30) direct beneficiaries of the project but it does not mean that those who will not be selected is restricted to avail, particularly, of the knowledge on managing this project (Tilapia culture) because they can also join the class along with the duration of the training”.

As an important counter part of the community, representatives from different sectors expressed their commitment of support for the implementation of the project.
A representative from the Barangay LGU said, “we will do all we can in order to support the project so it will be successfully implemented”.

BDA CenMin Regional Manager (RM) Hashim B. Manticayan in response to the commitment of support expressed by different sectors also expressed commitment of supports, “we in the BDA are also committed to implement the project in the best possible form”.

“Likewise, we are expressing our thanks and gratitude to the representatives from different sectors for their commitment of support”, RM Manticayan added.

He further said: “BDA is a show window of the MILF governance and the success of this project with our unified support represent our readiness and capacity to run the Bangsamoro Government”.

CenMin is among the regions of BDA where CD-CAAM Project is being implemented for its extension phase that kicked off in May this year.

The region is also part of the pilot implementation of the project together with Ranaw Region.

CD-CAAM is implemented by BDA with support from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in partnership with ICNet Limited as service provider.

Original Post: BDA-CenMin conducts barangay-wide orientation for CD-CAAM project stakeholders on fishery sector. Bangsamoro Development Agency website.

Barangay Chairman of Dapitan City Beheaded

Suspected Abu Sayyaf men have beheaded a barangay captain of Dapitan City whom they abducted along with two personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) three months ago.

Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado, commander of the Joint Task Group Sulu, said the cadaver could be Rodolfo Buligao, the barangay chairman of Barangay Aliguay Island in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte. “A written note was found on top of the cadaver with that name,” said Arrojado.

The body was discovered on a road intersection in Barangay Lunggang in Maimbung town of Sulu at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday night.

“Accordingly, the beheading was executed by the captors of the victim when the negotiator did not meet the amount of ransom demanded by the captors,” said Arrojado.
Buligao and the two Coast Guard personnel, identified as Rod Allain Pagaling and Gringo Villaruz were seized while they were monitoring the arrival of vessels off Dapitan City on May 4.

In June, a video showing the three pleading for help had gone viral in social media, with the masked gunmen threatening to behead them. Original Post: Abu Sayyaf Men Behead Dapitan City Barangay Chief. Manila Bulletin

Barangay Treasurer in Negros Occidental Gets Life for Fraud

Prosecutors from the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Visayas have secured the conviction of Charlene Cabusas, former treasurer of Barangay Rizal, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, for 30 counts of malversation through falsification of commercial documents that resulted in P780,000 in cash shortage.
 
The joint ruling issued by the San Carlos City Regional Trial Court (RTC), Negros Occidental Branch 57 sentenced Cabusas to suffer imprisonment of reclusion perpetua for each of 15 cases.
 
Meanwhile, for 14 other cases, she was sentenced to suffer imprisonment of 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days of reclusion temporal as minimum to 20 years of reclusion temporal as maximum.
 
For one other case, she was sentenced to suffer the indeterminate penalty of 8 years, 8 months, and one day of prision mayor as minimum to 14 years and 8 months of reclusion temporal as maximum.
 
During trial, the Ombudsman prosecutors established that from March 2008 to March 2009, Cabusas falsified 30 checks by altering their details.
 
The audit investigation conducted by the Commission on Audit (COA) found the 30 checks issued from the barangay’s Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) account were in excess of the stated amounts in their corresponding disbursement vouchers.
 
The COA determined that of the 30 checks, 16 of these were falsified with respect to the name of the payee and the amount, while the remaining 14 checks were falsified as to amount, resulting in a cash shortage of P780,000.

Cabusas admitted the cash shortage to the COA auditors.
A demand to produce the fund shortage was unheeded.




The San Carlos City RTC ruled that Cabusas was the payee, endorser, and recipient of the cash proceeds of all the 30 checks.


It said "the glaring discrepancy in the amount authorized vis-à-vis the amount reflected on the checks as encashed, coupled by the frequency by which the subject checks were drawn, readily reveal a deceitful hand at work. No other inference can be made except that the felonious acts of the accused were carefully calculated to illegally amass hundreds of thousands of pesos to the detriment of Barangay Rizal."
 
Aside from imprisonment, the RTC also ordered Cabusas to pay a fine of P780,000 equivalent to the amount malversed and another P780,000 for civil liability to Barangay Rizal with the accessory penalty of perpetual special disqualification for public office. Original Post: Woman barangay treasurer gets life imprisonment for P780,000 check fraud. InterAksyion.

17 Barangays in Negros Oriental Get Solar Energy

Bayawan Mayor Ismael Martinez and recipients of solar home system units.            Photo Credits:  Roy Bustillo

The Department of Energy (DOE), in cooperation with the Bayawan City government and Silliman University, distributed solar home system (SHS) units in the city during the ceremonial switch-on on Wednesday (August 5).

Bayawan Mayor Ismael Martinez thanked the DOE for choosing his city as a site for its House Electrification Program (HEP), which would greatly help 17 barangays that don't have power.

Martinez said children in these barangays could now study better and people would become more productive. Electric lighting, he added, could also help deter crimes.

According to DOE-Visayas Director Antonio Labios, this is the second time the DOE had this project in the Visayas, with this one having the largest number of beneficiaries of HEP at 2,989.

Labios said that most of the sitios are only accessible by foot or by habal-habal when the weather permits. The areas are also 5 kilometers away from the last pole of the local electric cooperative.

The solar home system units are composed of solar panels with a 10-kilowatt peak capacity and 30-kilowatt peak capacity batteries.  Original post by CNN:  DOE Gives Solar Energy Units to Negros Oriental Barangays.