The Philippine Good Urban Governance (GUG) Campaign

• Developing the Content of the GUG Campaign
• The Philippine Good Urban Governance Framework
  • The Seven Norms of Good Urban Governance
  • The 7–Point Action Agenda in Localizing the Norms of Good Urban Governance
• Initial results of the Good Urban Governance Campaign

Mayor Francis N. Tolentino, LCP National President, delivering a message at the launching of the Good Urban Governance Campaign

Developing the Content of the GUG Campaign

During the Habitat Istanbul Summit in 1996, then LCP President Jesse Robredo presented a paradigm for local governance and the action agenda for urbanization, which highlighted the stakeholders’ roles in urban development. The concept of livable and sustainable cities emerged in the process.

In consonance with the localization of the twin campaign of GUG and ST is the Millennium Development Goals adopted during the Millennium Summit of the UN General Assembly in 2000 that specifies a benchmark for UN member countries such as the Philippines in attaining developmental goals.

The idea of livable and sustainable city proceeds from the overall goal of sustainable development, which basically refers to a mode of development that gives importance to both the needs of the present and future generations. It recognizes the adverse effect of rapid urban growth and deteriorating environment on the living conditions of the urban poor. The concept is also in consonance with the move to localize the Philippine Agenda 21, which specifies a work program on sustainable environment and development.

In 1998, the Strengthening Local Capacity for Environmental Planning and Management Project was implemented with assistance from UNDP that was aimed at strengthening the capacity of both the national government and LGUs and their partners in undertaking participatory environmental planning and management. Known worldwide as the Sustainable Cities Programme, the project has made the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) an emerging partner of the UN. Likewise, LCP jointly worked with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on the project.

The three pilot cities—Lipa, Tagbilaran, and Cagayan de Oro—adopted participatory mechanisms to profile their environment and development issues, priorities, and immediate interventions. To improve city living conditons, they implemented detailed action plans. The project also enabled both DENR and LCP to propagate better environmental planning and management principles and processes.

In 2000, seven pilot cities; Olongapo, San Fernando, Sagay, Roxas, Lapu-Lapu, Dapitan and Dipolog prepared their City Development Strategies (CDS) with assistance from the WorldBank and in coordination with the LCP. Capitalizing on their unique characteristics and strengths, the cities undertook visioning and long term strategizing. With assistance from the joint WB/HABITAT Cities Alliance initiative, these cities formed a resource pool for sharing and replicating lessons learned to other cities.

As an offshoot to the success of the CDS-1, CDS-2 was implemented in 31 cities through the Cities Alliance. CDS-2 is distinctly poverty-focused and contains a poverty and environmental profiling of the cities and the Annual Investment Planning process. A knowledge management component was also introduced, a web-based tool that allows cities access information and mobilize resources from international sources.

On a parallel track, the LCP National Executive Board conducted a vision-to-action workshop in September 2001. It resulted to the adoption of the seven-point action agenda that is anchored on the twin pillars of good urban governance and poverty reduction. This action agenda thus, became the LCP’s contribution to the 10.10.10 process. Moreover, the various leagues of local officials in the Philippines identified policy reforms to strengthen the LGC.

Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the GUG Campaign launch with other city mayors

The 31 cities implementing the CDS2 were also identified as pilot cities for GUG. In a series of island-cluster roundtable discussions, these cities revisited the Istanbul document or the concept of a livable city. From this exercise, cities identified national agencies that have poverty reduction initiatives based on the state of the nation (SONA) commitments of GMA; food security, job generation, education and housing. Recognizing peace and security as another primary concern, the LCP included it as another theme in the round table discussions. In the first PUF brainstorming session in December 2001, the LCP made a formal statement to spearhead the GUG campaign in the Philippines. A localization workshop in February 2002 was conducted to validate and adopt the seven global norms on good urban governance into a Philippine framework as well as to come up with city-level indicators that would operationalize these norms. Two additional norms were proposed and these pertained to transformative leadership and preservation of culture.

With local level indicators in placed, the Philippine GUG framework was used as the basis for city level action planning.

In July 19, 2002, during the 39th General Assembly of the League of Cities, the GUG was formally launched. The norms were adopted by 115 city mayors in the form of a Declaration of Commitment to GUG. Both the launch and the assembly revolved around the theme “From Action Plans to Planned Action” which supported the call to upgrade people’s lives through poverty reduction measures and good governance practices.

The Philippine Good Urban Governance Framework

Under the Philippine Cities Good Urban Governance Framework, (see adjacent figure) a ‘house’ represents the vision of the city of the 21st century. This "house" rests on a sound urban policy framework that is consistent with the principle of local autonomy and decentralization and is governed by the principle of subsidiarity, which means that policies are crafted and decisions flow from the lowest level of government structure.

This "house" is effectively managed by a strong collective leadership and its activities sustain the environment, as expressed in a sound land use plan; respect the people and the community; and preserve the inherent cultural heritage in each city. The creation of the inclusive city that is livable, sustainable, bankable and competitive, and ably propelled by the pillars of infrastructure, shelter, basic services, finance and local economic development, are the ultimate goals of urbanization.

The Philippine cities are currently in the process of localizing the norms of good urban governance. On August 15, 2001, one month after the new LCP board members took their oath, the LCP adopted a 7-point action agenda^* that is anchored on the twin pillars of Poverty Reduction and Good Governance. ↑

The Seven Norms of Good Urban Governance include the following:

1. Equity of access to decision-making processes and the basic necessities of urban life. Women and men must participate as equals in all urban decision-making, priority-setting and resource allocation processes. Inclusive cities provide everyone, be it the poor, the young or older persons, religious or ethnic minorities or the handicapped, with equitable access to nutrition, education, employment and livelihood, health care, shelter, safe drinking water, sanitation and other services.
2. Security of individuals in their living environment. Every individual has the inalienable right to life, liberty and the security of person. Insecurity has a disproportionate impact in further marginalizing poor communities. Cities must strive to avoid human conflicts and natural disasters by involving all stakeholders in crime and conflict prevention and in disaster preparedness. Security also implies freedom from persecution and forced evictions as well as provides for security of tenure. Cities must also work with social mediation and conflict reduction agencies and must encourage the cooperation between enforcement agencies and social service providers of health, education, and housing.
3. Efficiency in the delivery of public services and in promoting local economic development: Cities must be financially sound and cost-effective in their management of revenue sources and expenditures, in the administration and delivery of services, and in enabling government, the private sector and communities contribute to the urban economy. Recognizing the specific contribution of women to the urban economy is essential in achieving efficiency.
4. Sustainability in all dimensions of urban development: Cities must balance the social, economic and environmental needs of present and future generations and this includes having a clear commitment to urban poverty reduction. Leaders of all sections of urban society must have a long-term, strategic vision of sustainable human development and the ability to reconcile divergent interests for the common good.
5. Decentralization of responsibilities and resources based on the principles of subsidiarity and accountability: Responsibility for service provision must be allocated on the basis of the principle of subsidiarity, that is, at the lowest appropriate level consistent with efficient and cost-effective delivery of services. This will maximize the citizens’ role in urban governance. Decentralization and local democracy must consequently improve the responsiveness of policies and initiatives to the citizens’ needs. Cities must have sufficient resources and autonomy to meet their responsibilities.
6. Transparency and Accountability of decision-makers and all stakeholders: The accountability of local authorities to their citizens is a fundamental tenet of good governance. Similarly, there should be no place for corruption in cities. Corruption can undermine local government credibility and deepen urban poverty. Transparency and accountability are essential to stakeholders’ appreciation of local government and to those who are affected by its decisions and actions. Laws and public policies must be applied in a transparent and predictable manner. Elected and appointed officials and other civil servant leaders need to set an example of high standards of professional and personal integrity. Likewise, citizen participation is a key element in promoting transparency and accountability.
7. Civic Engagement and Citizenship. People are the principal wealth of cities; they are both the object and the means of sustainable human development. Civic engagement implies that people can actively contribute to the common good. Citizens, especially women, must be empowered to participate effectively in decision-making processes and the civic capital of the poor must be recognized and supported.

Led by some 31 dynamic city mayors, these global norms were translated into a national framework that comprises a set of city-level indicators that were utilized in formulating city action plans. ↑

Initial results of the Good Urban Governance Campaign

To date, parallel actions have been implemented by LCP to propagate and popularize GUG practices. Among these are the following:

• Holding of LCP Best Practices Award on poverty reduction and urban governance,
• Proclamation No. 216 dated June 27, 2002 declaring July as Good Urban Governance Month. The LCP requested President Macapagal-Arroyo to issue it to underscore the need to place poverty reduction at the core of the budgeting, prioritizing, and planning process of the cities,
• Generation of 18 city action plans and an on-going effort to complete all plans by the 31 pilot cities,
• Conduct of a series of Barangay Empowerment Fora in selected cities and efforts to institutionalize the People’s Day consultation process were done in partnership with the PUF and the Liga ng mga Barangay (LnB) to instill the practice of strong governance at the grassroots level,
• On-going efforts are being made for the capacity development of LCP and its member cities in conjunction with foreign-assisted projects. There are also initiatives to replicate best practices among cities.

Meanwhile, the DILG-LGA has created an urban development and leadership office that is tasked to make a certification and accreditation system for urban managers and to form a pool of urban management experts. ↑

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