Module 12 249

Inter-agency Linkages

Coordination is a central function of the DBM, which must service its

client agencies even as it works closely with the other fiscal agencies of
the government. Chart 12.7 below depicts in one diagram the working
ties that the DBM must maintain with the different institutions involved
in the budgetary process.

Chart 12.7 Critical Linkages

Office of the President

DBCC MACROECONOMIC INTER-AGENCY INTER-AGENCY

FISCAL POLICIES POLICY DECISIONS COMMITTEES
 DOF ICC
DBM 


 IC
NEDA
 LEDAC
BUDGETARY
 BSP  PARC
POLICIES
 DBM •TECHNICAL  COP
  ASSISTANCE  etc.
•PASSAGE OF •RELEASES
  ADMINISTRATION OF FUNDS
  BILL FOR
•FISCAL
•REVIEW OF NEEDS OF
  CONTROL
BIILL W/ CONSTITUENCIES
•MANAGEMENT
  BUDGETARY
  IMPROVEMENT
  IMPLICATIONS
•BUDGET
  REQUIREMENTS

•  AGENCY-RDC
RECONCILIATION OF
OTHER NATIONAL BUDGET PRIORITIES REGIONAL
GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT
 AGENCIES/ COUNCIL (LCEs, regional
CONSTITUTIONAL heads, NGO Rep.)
BODIES
CONGRESS

 HOUSE COMMITTEE

ON APPROPRIATIONS
 SENATE FINANCE

COMMITTEE

   OTHER

CONGRESSIONAL

COMMITTEES

  ACRONOMYMS:

BSP - Bangko Sentral ng LEDAC - Legislative Executive Development

Pilipinas COP - Committee on  Advisory Council
Privatization NEDA - National Economic and
DBCC - Development Budget Develop- ment Authority
Coordination Committee NGO - Non-Government Organizations
DBM - Department of Budget PARC - Presidential Agrarian Reform
and Management Committee
DOF - Department of Finance RDC - Regional Development Council
IC - Infrastructure Committee RDIP - Regional Development
ICC - Investment Coordinating Investment
Committee LCE - Local Chief Program
Executive

Source: The Department of Budget and Management A Profile, (1998).

UP Open University
268 PM 208: Philippine Administrative System

NGOs Working With Government for

Greater Accountability And
Accessibility
More recent studies are available to document efforts of NGOs to hold govern-
ment accountable for publicly funded operations. We shall cite some of these to
prove successful partnerships between the NGOs and governments, at the na-
tional and local levels.

One of these studies was a rapid assessment of the role of NGOs in rural develop-
ment. It examined modes of GO-NGO collaboration in six program areas, namely:
a) primary health care, b) social forestry, c) community-based coastal resource
management, d) credit, e) integrated area development, and f) agrarian reform.
The study’s findings showed that all the programs studied required NGO partici-
pation as provided for in the 1992-1997 Medium Term Development Plan. None
of the programs was either just a purely government or a nongovernment pro-
gram. A significant finding was that NGO participation was not confined to
service delivery alone. Instead, NGOs developed and managed the program them-
selves. Moreover, NGOs have and are able to directly participate in the
formula-
tion of policy in two program areas s  ocial forestry and primary health care. In
social forestry, NGOs have not only been able to develop the community-based
forestry programs, they also helped define the government’s policy on the issue.
NGOs were also active in the policy formulation process in developing
health
financing schemes. (Garde and Navarro, 1996: iii-iv.)

Another study documented the efforts of five NGOs to make government institu-
tions accountable and to expose graft and corruption in the Philippines. In an
article entitled “Graftbusters, Lorna Kalaw Tirol documented efforts of the Con-
cerned Citizens of Abra for Good Government (CCAGG), the National Irrigation
Administration Employees Administration (NIAEA), Gising Bayan, Fellowships
of Christians in Government (FOCIG), and KILOSBAYAN, to expose
corruption in specific government agencies or projects. In the case of the CCAGG,
the people of Abra were able to call attention and get immediate action on eight
infrastruc- ture projects which were reported to have been completed when work
on some of these projects had not even been started. (Lorna Kalaw Tirol,
1998: 272-293.)

The last set of studies documented efforts of NGOs to influence policy in the field
of ancestral domain, agrarian reform, fisheries, debt service, official development
assistance, and logging. While not all of these groups succeeded in having their
proposed policies adopted, the NGOs learned important strategies in dealing with
government. Among the important lessons they learned were:

• Building allies among influential policy makers and powerbrokers and

getting their support and sponsorship provides groups with strength
for gaining policy influence and organizational legitimacy.

UP Open University
  Module 13 269

• The willingness and capacity of groups to negotiate with government

and to accept the validity of incremental reform affect their ability to
obtain policy gains and political legitimacy.

• Effective grassroots education and organizing efforts help sustain and

strengthen the institutional base necessary for holding governments ac-
countable and for pursuing long term policy change. (Valerie Miller
and Henedina Razon-Abad, 1997:197-199)

Activity 13-2
Having read and learned about the activities of NGOs and POs,
you are now ready to go back to your “reference” national agency
to ask them questions about whether they also involve NGOs and
POs in the operations of the agency. I suggest that you ask the
following questions:

1. Does the agency have programs where it works with NGOs

and POs?

2. If not, why ?

3. If they deal with NGOs and POs, how are these organizations
involved in the work of the agency ?

4. What do they see as the advantages or the disadvantages of

involving NGOs and POs in their work?

UP Open University
270 PM 208: Philippine Administrative System

Comments on Activity 13-2

After interviewing representatives of your reference agency, you
now have a clear idea as to how NGOs or POs may be involved in
government operations. You will have learned directly whether
NGOs or POs are indeed partners of the government in the provi-
sion of services, in holding government accountable, or even in
policy formulation. I hope that with this activity, you are more
clear on the nature of the working partnership between NGOs,
POs and the government.

Summary
In this module, you have read about the nature of people’s organizations
and nongovernment organizations, how they are different, and how they
work together, and how they also partner with government. You have
also learned how NGOs evolved and developed in the context of political
repression during the martial law period. You are now familiar also with
state policies enunciated in our Constitution, in other laws like the Local
Government Code which strongly encourage the State to work with and
support NGOs and POs. Finally, this module gave you specific experi-
ences of NGOs and POs working to make government more accountable
in providing services and in policy formulation.

You have just completed the last module of PM 208. Congratulations for
having the personal discipline and determination to finish this course on
distance mode. I truly hope that this was a learning experience that you
enjoyed as well.

UP Open University
  Module 13 271

References

Alegre, Alan G. “ The Rise of Philippine NGOs as Social Movement: A

Preliminary Historical Sketch (1965-1995),” in Alan G. Alegre (ed),
Trends and Tradition, Challenges and Choices: A Strategic Study of
Philip-
  pine NGOs (Quezon City: Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public
Affairs and Philippines-Canada Human Resource Development Pro-
gram, 1996), pp.2-48.
Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs, Policy Influence:
NGO Experiences (Quezon City: Ateneo Center for Social Policy and
Public Affairs, 1997).
Co, Edna A. “Reinterpreting Civil Society: The Context of the Philippine
NGO Movement,” in Trends and Tradition, Challenges and Choices:
A Strategic Study of Philippine NGOs, pp. 190-205.
Co, Edna A. and Alegre, Alan G. “NGO Relations with the Government” in
Trends and Tradition, Challenges and Choices: A Strategic Study
of  Philippine NGOs, pp. 107-112.
Coronel-Ferrer, Miriam. “ Civil Society Making Civil Society” in Civil So-
ciety Making Civil Society (Quezon City: Third World Studies Center,
1997), pp. 1-20.
Garde, Enrico O. and Navarro, Napoleon GY. “A Rapid Assessment: The
Role of NGOs in Rural Development,”  Vol.1 Synthesis Report ( CCS,
PBSP, CODE-NGO, 1996), pp. iii-iv.)
Kalaw-Tirol, Lorna “Graftbusters” in Sheila S. Coronel (ed) Pork and
Other  Perks: Corruption and Governance in the Philippines (Quezon
City: Phil- ippine Center for Investigative Journalism, 1998), pp. 272-
293.
Miller, Valerie and Razon-Abad, Henedina. “What Constitutes Success
in Policy Influence?” in Policy Influence: NGO Experiences (Ateneo
Cen- ter for Social Policy and Public Affairs, Institute for Development
Re- search and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 1997), pp.197-199.
Quizon, Antonio B. and Reyes, Rhoda. (eds)   A Strategic Assessment
of  NGOs in the Philippines (Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian
Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC), 1989),p.3.
Republic of the Philippines,   Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan,
1999-2004, p.1-4.
Wui, Marlon A. and Lopez, Ma. Glenda S. (eds), State-Civil Society Rela-
tions in Policy-making (Quezon City: Third World Studies Center, 1997).

UP Open University