MANILA, (PIA) -- The lead organizer of the Yes for Peace – Bayanihan ng Bayan today called on the Makabayan bloc and other "red-tagged" groups to reconsider their anti-government stance and instead push for Bottom-up Budgeting and the realization of AmBisyon Natin 2040.
Ernesto Angeles Alcanzare President and Chief Executive Officer of Yes for Peace, Incorporated challenged militant groups to shift their talents, treasures and time to encourage pro-active involvement and collective people participation in peace and development in lieu of calling for and encouraging them to bring down the government.
Yes for Peace is a peace education and advocacy initiative that seeks to establish a national consensus for peace and bring the Filipino people into the center stage of the comprehensive peace process, which was initiated by students of the University of the Philippines System in 1988.
He called on the Makabayan bloc and other militant organizations protesting alleged "red-tagging" and the Anti-Terrorism Law to seriously consider looking into existing programs and projects of all government agencies designed to alleviate poverty and help disseminate these through free and open-source websites, and thereby strengthen the Bottom-up Budgeting and AmBisyon Natin 2040.
“Could you please change your perpetual call and impossible dream of bringing down the government to something constructive?” Alcanzare said, challenging the self-styled progressive groups.
“Could you instead fight for the people’s right to know and the earnest implementation of programs and projects aimed toward peace and development of communities, particularly the Barangay Development and Investment Program and the Bottom-up and Budgeting of the DILG so that we can realize the goals of AmBisyon Natin 2040 of NEDA?” he asked.
“The truth is there are government programs that could address the needs of communities. Unfortunately, there is an information gap because information communications technology that we have now were non-existent in the past,” Alcanzare asserted.
“Try researching and you will be surprised that these were developed and implanted into the system by your fellow activists who chose to join the government and find ways to solve the myriad of problems confronting the nation through the government itself instead of bringing it down.”
He said some of them are "so well-versed" on their perceived shortcomings or missteps of the government.
“How could you have missed major programs designed to address some causes of the insurgency – poverty, bureaucratic indifference and government neglect?” he added.
An online search result defines Bottom-up Planning as, “a participative approach to planning in which there is involvement at all levels; plans are developed at the lower levels of an organisation and funnelled up through consecutive levels until they reach top management.”
As far back as 2011, the government has adopted it as a strategy in development planning and budgeting and piloted it in 609 barangays across the country.
To follow it through, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) issued Joint Memorandum No. 2, series of 2012, which defined Bottom-up Budgeting (BuB) as, “an approach to preparing the budget proposal of agencies, taking into consideration the development needs of poor cities/municipalities as identified in their respective local poverty reduction action plans that shall be formulated with strong participation of basic sector organizations and other civil society organizations.
"To institutionalize the system, the National Barangay Operations Office (NBOO) of DILG published a Primer on Barangay Development Planning in 2020 and thus made the process more user-friendly and therefore doable at all levels of government," Alcanzare said.
In his message, DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año said, “Consistent with the Department’s mandate to better capacitate and promote active participation of barangay-based institutions in policy formulation and the implementation of programs, projects and activities, this primer seeks to provide fundamental information on citizen-centric approach to identification of development goals with action steps, resources, and targeted completion dates.”
Año called on barangay officials, especially the Barangay Development Council, to "remain committed in promoting development that provides the needs of the its constituent without compromising the ability of future generations to also meet theirs.”
“Tunay na hindi matatawaran ang papel na ginagampanan ng barangay sa pagkamit ng ating mithiing matatag, maginhawa, at panatag na buhay para sa lahat ng mga Pilipino. Kaya naman, sama-sama tayong magsumikap na iangat at pag-ibayuhin ang kalidad ng ating paglilingkod. Gampanan natin nang buong husay ang ating sinumpaang tungkulin tungo sa positibong pagbabago,” he added.
(The barangay has a big role to play in achieving our objective of a strongly rooted, comfortable, and secure life for all Filipinos. For this reason, let us all together step up and further enhace our capacity for quality service, as part of our oath to serve, toward positive change.)
