CIVIL society groups on Wednesday urged lawmakers to institutionalize their participation in the entire government budget process, saying accreditation and consultation rules should not become barriers that exclude grassroots organizations.
Caucus of Development NGO Networks Deputy Executive Director Mack Hale Bunagan said civil society organizations (CSOs) should be allowed to participate as resource persons, access budget documents and attend budget deliberations in person.
“We would like to echo that people’s participation in the budgeting process has been in the Local Government Code,” Mr. Bunagan said during the House of Representatives Committee on People’s Participation hearing.
He urged lawmakers to revisit proposed accreditation requirements, particularly those requiring audited financial statements, lists of officers and members, and administrative and criminal records.
Such requirements could exclude regional, grassroots, and smaller CSOs from participating in budget discussions, Mr. Bunagan said.
People’s Budget Coalition co-convener Adolfo Jose A. Montesa also called for a more permanent mechanism, saying public trust in the national budget was damaged by amendments made after formal congressional hearings.
“Livestreams let people watch, but meaningful participation allows the people to speak,” Mr. Montesa said.
He proposed allowing accredited CSOs to serve as resource persons during Appropriations committee and subcommittee hearings, publishing budget documents in machine-readable formats and allowing observers inside the room during the bicameral conference committee.
Party-list Rep. Elijah R. San Fernando backed the proposals, saying the Committee on Appropriations, rather than the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD), should directly host the People’s Budget Review.
“Direct participation rather than indirect through us,” CPBRD Deputy Executive Secretary General Romulo Emmanuel M. Miral, Jr. said.
CSO engagement in the past had been largely informal and depended on the disposition of the Appropriations committee chair, Mr. Miral said.
He said legislation should clearly establish who may participate, when participation takes place, what information participants receive, how submissions enter the decision-making process and how government responds to their recommendations. — Pexcel John Bacon