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Overview

1. What is the Philippine Urban Forum?
2. How does the Urban Forum relate with the Global Campaigns on Good Urban Governance and Secure Tenure?
3. What does the Urban Forum hope to achieve?
4. What are some of the key issues to be discussed by the Urban Forum?
5. Who convenes the Urban Forum?
6. Who may participate in the Urban Forum?
7. How long will the Urban Forum last?

The Philippine Urban Forum (PUF) is a mechanism for continuing consultation and convergence among stakeholders in shelter and urban governance. The birth of the PUF was a vital step towards the realization of the goals of the global campaigns on Good Urban Governance (GUG) and Secure Tenure (ST). In general, the PUF aims to strengthen linkages for the implementation of the National Urban Development and Housing Framework (NUDHF), 1999-2004, through continuing consultation and convergence among stakeholders. Likewise, it serves as a venue for information sharing, discussion and coordination among national government agencies, legislature, civil society organizations, private sector groups and international donor community that are involved in shelter and urban governance.

Basing on its past involvement and the roles it is projected to assume in realizing the national action agenda, the PUF:

• Acts as a mechanism for facilitation and information sharing
• Supports the formulation and implementation of the NUDHF
• Champions the Ang Bahanggunihahan, or the national action agenda
• Endorses proposals for urban development projects
• Serves as a forum for policy discussions and com-missions research
• Facilitates work on ST and GUG
• Mobilizes resources and acts as a support facility

Imagine a road with two vehicles traveling towards the same direction. The road on which the two vehicles are traveling is the Urban Forum. The two campaigns on Good Urban Governance and Secure Tenure, having distinct but interrelated objectives and constituencies, are the two vehicles.

2.1. Campaign for Good Urban Governance (GUG)

The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) champions the GUG Campaign.

It is an advocacy campaign aimed to articulate and translate the international norms on good urban governance in the Philippine setting. In essence, the development goal of the GUG is to contribute to reducing poverty through improved urban governance. The vision and strategy of the campaign aim to realize the “inclusive city”, a place where everyone, regardless of wealth, gender, age, race or religion, is enabled to participate productively and positively in the opportunities cities have to offer.

The GUG will engage local government units and key partners in a normative debate centered on the argument that sustainability, subsidiarity, equity, efficiency, transparency and accountability, civic engagement and citizenship, and security characterize good urban governance, and that these norms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. Through a participatory process at the local, national, regional and global level, the campaign is facilitating a debate and a consensus on the norms of good urban governance, including specific means for its implementation.

2.2. Campaign for Secure Tenure (ST)

The urban poor groups, particularly the Urban Poor Colloquium (UPC) and the Homeless Peoples Federation of the Philippines (HPFP) champion the ST. It is an advocacy campaign that seeks to mainstream the urban poor agenda in governance, based on the premise that the urban poor is not merely a beneficiary to any anti-poverty program, but an active partner of government in solving urban poverty.

It is designed to take forward government’s commitment to providing Adequate Shelter for All, one of the two main themes of the Habitat Agenda. The Campaign identifies the provision of secure tenure as essential for a sustainable shelter strategy, and as a vital element in promotion of Housing Rights.

The Global Campaign for Secure Tenure has been designed to spearhead a shelter strategy that promotes the rights and interests of the poor, and which recognizes that the vast majority of their shelter is provided by the urban poor themselves. The Campaign will, in particular, promote the rights and the roles of women as essential to successful shelter policy.

As a result of the interaction among the players, the Forum hopes to achieve a clearer understanding of the norms of the good urban governance and mechanisms for ensuring secure tenure for the urban poor communities. Specifically, the Forum seeks to establish

• A sustained mechanism to continue the dialogue and foster cooperation among the major stakeholders in shelter and urban governance
• A national urban action agenda that will define key strategic actions to be pursued by urban stakeholder groups, with clear resource commitments within a specific time frame
• A regular mechanism for sharing good policies and practices drawn our from the experiences of various sectors, and replicating these practices to further promote collaboration and partnerships where efforts can have maximum impact
• A launching pad for the global campaign on Good Urban Governance and Secure Tenure

As an initial synthesis of the results of previous consultations, the Forum shall discuss, but not limit itself to the following key issues:

4.1 Policy and Legislation

• Operationalization of National Urban and Housing Development Framework
• Passage of a consensus version of the National Land Use Act
• Passage of legislative measures to support the development of a viable and sustainable sources of housing finance (e.g., Securitization Bill and a setting up of institutional mechanism that will manage and administer government housing assistance and subsidies for the formal and non-formal poor)
• Passage of legislative measures to improve to improve institutional arrangement in housing and land use delivery system (e.g. creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development)
• Amendments to the 1991 Local Government Code to include the creation of Local Housing Boards as one of the local special bodies

4.2 Research

• Creation of a Social Housing Fund
• Current State of the Art in Land Titling in the Philippines
• Benchmarking the Success of UDHA Implementation

4.3 Localization

• Drawing from the experiences of the 40 cities implementing the City Development Strategy (CDS-2)
• Follow-through of the Roundtable Discussion on Fighting Poverty with Passion through Improved Urban Governance organized by the League of Cities of the Philippines
• Formulation of Comprehensive Land Use Plans
• Formulation of model city action plans for urban governance and secure tenure

4.4 Awards and Incentives

An award and recognition component to provide incentives to local governments that have successfully implemented anti-poverty projects using the norms of good urban governance.

The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) is the lead convener. A core technical secretariat is lodged at the Policy Formulation and Review Group.

A full-time Urban Forum Facilitator supports HUDCC and a technical working group composed of representatives from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), Homeless People’s Federation of the Philippines (HPFP), Urban Poor Colloquium (UPC), and the Shelter and Housing Advisory Group (SHAG).

As much as practicable, the Urban Forum will be open to all groups and individuals in shelter and urban governance in the Philippines. Events will be organized in various parts of the country to reach as many local stakeholders as possible.

The first phase of the Forum will last for a ten-month duration (October 2001–July 2002). But this early, the composite technical secretariat is already preparing the sustaining mechanisms to ensure the mainstreaming of the agenda at various levels.