Republic of the Philippines 4 &
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES //S
Quezon City, Metro Manila f

<—
EH 2 a peer,
NINETEENTH CONGRESS arr |
I Regular Session Et #
59
House Bill No. Q

Introduced by Representatives EDVIC G. YAP, ERIC G. YAP, PAOLO Z.
DUTERTE, JOCELYN P. TULFO, RALPH TULFO, and JEFFREY SORIANO

EXPLANATORY NOTE

An overwhelming 23.7% of the population lived below the poverty line in 2021, which
comprises 26.1 million Filipinos. In addition, there are still the proliferating effects of
the COVID-19 pandemic such as repatriated migrant workers, displaced laborers, and
lost livelihood. Hence, this proposed measure aims to reduce these effects in the
expense of the increasing commodity prices by allowing the communities to take a
significant role in the planning and implementation of policies that are responsive to
the needs of the said community, as well as their sustainable socioeconomic

development.

This bill seeks to institutionalize Community-Driven Development strategy to
alleviate poverty by empowering every barangay or community of targeted
municipalities through participatory planning, budgeting, and decision-making in
consideration of various geographical and socio-economic conditions of these

communities.

Through this legislation, there will be a gradual shift in the dynamics of leadership as
it embodies a bottom-up approach, one in which policies are directed towards
enhancing participatory governance practices, tapping community organizations
particularly the basic sectors, and responding first-hand to community needs. In fact,
this measure also allows the proper identification of the needs of the constituents

because of its community-focused approach wherein programs or projects put



primacy on a certain group of people living in a particular locality or geographical

area.

Most importantly, this bill provides community empowermentas it enables groups to
increase control over the factors and decisions that shape their lives, including their
assets and attributes, partners, networks, and voice—one which portrays the spirit of

democracy.

Hence, in view offfhe forepoing, the approval of this bill is earnegtly sought.

EDVIq)G. YAP PAOLO Z|] DUTERTE
ators JOCELYN P. TULFO
JEFFREY SORIANO RALPH TULFO



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

NINETEENTH CONGRESS.
I Regular Session

House Bill No. 590

Introduced by Representatives EDVIC G. YAP, ERIC G. YAP, PAOLO Z.
DUTERTE, JOCELYN P. TULFO, RALPH TULFO, and JEFFREY SORIANO

AN ACT
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE COMMUNITY-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
APPROACH AS A NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH AND
SOCIAL PROTECTION, ESTABLISHING FOR THE PURPOSE THE CDD
KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCE INSTITUTE, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS
THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Community-Driven
Development (CDD) Approach Institutionalization Act.”

SEC 2. Declaration Policies. ~ Itis the policy of the State to uplift the standard
of living and quality of life of the poor and provide them with sustained opportunities
for growth and development. The State also recognizes that the right of the people
and their organizations to effective and reasonable participation at all levels of social,
political, and economic decision-making shall not be abridged. The State shall, by law,
facilitate the establishment of adequate consultation mechanisms.

Towards this end, and in pursuit of sustainable and inclusive growth and
poverty reduction, the State shall enact programs that provide opportunities for
community members particularly the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized to
effectively participate in designing, planning, budgeting implementing, monitoring,
and evaluating community programs, activities, and projects

Further, the State shall provide capacity _ building opportunities for
local government units, civil society organizations, and communities to ensure the
proper use of the CDD approach in implementing local programs, projects, and
activities.

SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act:


Basic sectors refer to the disadvantaged sectors of Philippine society including
farmer-peasants, fisherfolk, workers in the formal sector including migrant
workers, workers in the informal sector, indigenous peoples and cultural
communities, women, persons with disability, senior citizens, victims of
calamities and disasters, youth and students, children, urban poor, and
members of cooperatives;

. Community Menber refer to all residents of a particular province, city,
municipality or barangay from various sectors including non-government
organizations and business entities.

Community-based programs refer to programs, activities, or projects that are
designed, planned, organized and implemented locally by community
members or groups to address community-identified plans and needs;

|. Community-driven development (CDD) refers to an approach that gives control
over the development process, decision-making, and resources to community
members or groups and treats people as assets and partners in the development
process while building on their institutions and resources, and

. Community empowerment refers to a process of enabling groups to increase
control over the factors and decisions that shape their lives, including their
assets and attributes, partners, networks, and voice.

SEC. 4, Elements of CD. — The CDD approach has the following elements:

. Community focus wherein programs or projects put primacy on a group of
people living in a particular locality or geographical area such as a barangay,
ancestral domain, or specific subsets thereof, where interventions are
implemented;

. Participatory planning wherein the process directly involves the community
members, leaders, and other stakeholders in diagnosing local problems and
designing a course of action to resolve those problems, and aims to harmonize
views among all of its participants and provide opportunities for the
engagement especially of the marginalized groups;

Community control of resources wherein the utilization and management of
the resources by the community members or groups are based on community-
identified plans and needs,

. Community-managed implementation wherein the execution, monitoring, and
contract management of community-identified projects are performed by
community members or groups, with assistance from the local government
units (LGUs) and other local partners; and

Participatory monitoring and evaluation wherein the process through which
members at various levels of the community engage in monitoring and


evaluating a program or policy, share control over the content, the process and
the resulls of the monitoring and evaluation activity, and participate in
identifying and making corrective actions.

SEC. 5. Institutionalization of the CDD Approach. — National government

agencies (NGAs) and departments, including their attached agencies offices, bureaus,
other government instrumentalities, and LGUs shall adopt the CDD approach in their
community-based programs to promote participation and empowerment of — poor,

vulnerable, disadvantaged, and marginalized groups within communiti

SEC. 6. Operationalization of the CDD Approach. — NGAs and LGUs in

community-based programs shall be responsible for:

a.

Developing policies for enhancing participatory governance practices, tapping
community organizations particularly the basic sectors, and responding to
community needs;

. Providing information on government intervention, technical assistance and

support to partner communities for more effective community-d riven
planning and implementation;

Enabling community members to meaningfully participate in the whole
process;

. Ensuring that community members are prioritized, to the extent possible, in

receiving employment opportunities brought about by project implementation
at the communities;

. Ensuring that identified community priorities are sufficiently funded; and

Accrediting and ensuring participation of civil society organizations (CSOs)as
partners in organizing and strengthening communities, and implementing
community-based PAPs/

SEC. 7. Role of Civil Society Organizations and the Academe. — Accredited CSOs

and academic institutions are encouraged to participate in community activities,
specifically by:

a.

b.

. Conducting third party monitoring and evaluation of capacity buil

Facilitating the community empowerment processes;

Providing continuous capacity building and technology transfer to LGUs and
communities;

ing and
empowerment of LGUs and communities; and

. Providing additional funding or collaborating with partners or donors to

implement capacity building and empowerment of LGUs and communities.


For purposes of this section, the CDD community of practice refers to a
community of CDD practitioners comprised of agencies, NGOs, academic and
research institutions, and individuals, that share the commitment and passion for
CDD, and together strive to advance its practice through regular and. purposive
interaction.

SEC. 8. Incentives. — The exemplary use of the CDD approach by NGAs and
LGUs shall be considered as a significant criterion for the recognition given to LGUs
such as the Seal of Good Local Governance by the Department of the Interior and
Local Government (DILG) and other awards by NGAs.

SEC. 9. Advisory Council. — An Advisory Council on CDD Institutionalization
is created to develop policies relative to the implementation of this Act.

The Advisory Council is composed of the following:
a. Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, as chairperson;
b. Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, as co-chairperson; and

c. Representatives from the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC),
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of
Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Agriculture (DA),
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Health (DOH), Department of
Education (DepEd), and Department of Human Settlements and Urban
Development (DHSUD)

The representatives include the secretaries of the agencies as the officially
designated permanent members and designated undersecretaries as alternate
representatives.

The Advisory Council shall have, as additional members, representatives of
accredited non-government organizations (NGOs) which shall constitute not less than
one-fourth (1/4) of the members of the Advisory Council, and shall be appointed by
the Advisory Council to serve for three (3) years from the date of their appointment.
Thereafter, the representatives shall be selected from and appointed by the CDD
community of practice.

Advisory councils at the regional levels are also established with the regional
directors of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and DILG,
as chairperson and co-chairperson, respectively, and representatives from the regional
offices of NAPC, NEDA, DBM, DA, DAR, DENR, DOH, DepEd, DHSUD, and from
accredited NGOs, as members.

SEC. 10, Functions of Advisory Council. — The Advisory Council shall have
the following functions:


a. Meet regularly to promote coordination among agencies to enhance and
promote the use of the CDD approach;

b. Implement the incentives program to enhance and promote the use of the CDD
approach by NGAs and LGUs;

Implement a grievance redress mechanism that accepts and resolves
complaints pertaining to the implementation of this Act;

d. Provide the monitoring and assessment report on the implementation of this
Act, post the same on the DSWD website, and submit an annual report to the
Joint Congressional Oversight Committee; and

e, Recommend to the President of the Philippines measures and policies for the
responsive delivery of commitments under this Act and integration into the
general poverty reduction strategy of the National Government.

SEC. 11. Establishment of the CDD Knowledge and Resource Institute. - The
CDD Knowledge and Resource Institute, hereinafter referred to as the Institute, is
established as a non-stock, non-profit government-owned and controlled corporation
with its own charter, attached to the DSWD. The Institute is a policy, research, and
training arm of the Advisory Council, which shall provide support for continuing
research and technology development, partnership development, policy advocacy,
resource mobilization, capacity-building of communities, monitoring and evaluation
to ensure effective institutionalization and operationalization of the CDD framework.

SEC. 12. Function and Powers of the Institute. —

a. The Institute shall have the following functions:
1. Policy advocacy;
2. Learning and development:

i. Development of CDD resource pool, a group of experts on CDD
principles and implementation who possess expertise in CDD to co-
develop the certification and accreditation programs and other learning
and development requirements of the staff, partners, and other
stakeholders;

ii, Certification of CDD organizations, institutions, and
individual practitioners who shall either be partners of the program or
part of its human resources; and

iii, Continuing professional development through partner academic
institutions.

3. Knowledge management and technology development;
4, Regular monitoring and evaluation;
i, Resource mobilization: partnership and linkages; and
ii, Convergence.
5. Secretariat support services to the Advisory Council


b. The Institute shall exercise the following powers:

1. Collect, receive, and maintain funds, donations, and other forms of
assistance and apply the income and principal thereof to the promotion of
its aims and purposes,

2. Contract any obligation or enter into any agreement necessary or incidental
to the proper management of its powers;

3. Carry on any activity and exercise all of the powers conferred by laws upon
private or government-owned or controlled corporations, and do any and
all of the acts and things prescribed under this Act.

c. The Institute may charge socialized fees, as determined by the Board, on all
applications for certifications, trainings, and other services rendered by the
Institute.

SEC 13. Board of Directors. — The Institute shall be under the direct
supervision of a Board of Directors, hereinafter referred to as the Board, composed of
the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development as chairperson and at least four (4)
other members from CSOs and the academe, to be appointed by the President of the
Philippines upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Social Welfare and
Development.

‘The appointive members of the Board shall serve for a term of four (4) years.
Of those first appointed, one shall serve for four (4) years, one for three (3) years, one
for two (2) years and one for one (1) year, respectively. Appointment to any vacancy
shall be only for the unexpired term of the predecessor. No appointive member of the
Board shall serve for more than two (2) consecutive terms.

‘A majority of the members of the Board shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business.

SEC 14. Functions of the Board. - The Board shall have the following functions:

a. Formulate and adopt policies and measures for the management and operation
of the Institute;

b. Appoint the president of the Institute who shall come from among the
appointive members of the Board;

c. Approve the staffing pattern of the Institute;

d. Promulgate rules and regulations for the discharge of its powers and functions
and the internal operations of the Institute. The chairperson of the Board shall
exercise the power to appoint, promote, discipline or remove the personnel of
the Institute;


e. Manage the financial affairs of the Institute and approve an annual budget of
the Institute according to its requirements; and

f. Monitor and review the programs and projects of the Institute.

SEC. 15. President of the institute; Powers and Functions. — The president of
the Institute is the chief executive officer of the Institute and is entitled to receive such
salary and remuneration as may be determined by the Board in accordance with
existing laws and rules and regulations.

The president shall exercise the following powers and functions:

a. Prepare, for the approval of the Board, the staffing pattern of the Institute
which includes the determination of the qualifications, the number and
compensation of officials and other personnel as may be necessary for the
proper discharge of the functions of the Institute;

b. Exercise control and supervision over the personnel, staff, operations, and
internal administration of the Institute in accordance with existing laws and the
rules and regulations promulgated by the Board;

c. Recommend to the Board such policies and measures necessary for the effective
exercise and discharge of the powers and functions of the Institute; and

d. Submit an annual report to the Board on the operations, status of the programs
funded by, and financial condition of the Institute, including a
recommendation for its budget for the ensuing year.

SEC. 16. Endowment Fund, — There is hereby established an endowment fund
which shall consist of voluntary contributions, donations, grants, or loans from
domestic or foreign sources, government subsidies and other income accruing from
the operations of the Institute.

SEC. 17. Implementing Agencies. —

a. DSWD as lead agency. — As lead agency for the implementation of this Act,
the DSWD shall integrate in their regular operations the following functions:

1. Facilitate support to empower community members to participate in the
local development processes and to strengthen community capabilities to
engage LGUs, NGAs, and other stakeholders to support community-
identified priorities;

2. Institutionalize capacity-building and learning on CDD for NGAs, CSOs,
private sector institutions, and other partners;

3. Accredit CSOs to become partners in the use of CDD approach; and


4. Provide technical assistance and resource augmentation by ensuring
integration of municipal development plans into provincial development
plans

b. DILG as key partner in capacity building. — The DILG shall support the CDD
Knowledge and Resource Institute in the capacity building of LGUs and
communities.

c. NAPC as key partner in mobilizing the basic sectors. — The NAPC shall be a
key partner agency in the development of policies and measures to ensure
meaningful representation and active participation of the basic sectors in their
local development.

d. Support from relevant government agencies. — All relevant bureaus, offices,
agencies and instrumentalities of the government shall render the necessary
support to the implementation of this Act. The various government agencies
identified under this Act and the concerned LGUs shall implement this Act
using the whole-of-government approach, which provides a logical and
systematic convergence of efforts of NGAs and LGUs to respond to the
identified community needs, issues, concerns, and priorities

SEC. 18. Regular Monitoring and Reporting. — The Advisory Council shall
monitor the implementation of this Act and submit an annual report of its status to
the Office of the President and to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee. The
report must also be regularly posted on the DSWD Website and updated for the
public's information. A process assessment shall be conducted by DSWD once every
three years, the results of which shall be utilized to stimulate more program lessons
exchange, experience sharing, public dialogues, policy discussions and generating
inputs for program design works on CDD. Mechanisms for promoting third-party
monitoring and evaluation of this Act by NGOs and CSOs, together with community
members and LGUs, shall also be established.

SEC. 19. Joint Congressional Oversight Committee. — A Joint Congressional
Oversight Committee, hereafter referred to as the Oversight Committee, is hereby
constituted. The Oversight Committee shall set the overall framework to review the
implementation of this Act. It shall also determine the inherent weaknesses in the law
and recommend the necessary remedial legislation or executive measures.

The Oversight Committee is composed of fourteen (14) members, with the
chairpersons of the Committee on Poverty Alleviation of the House of
Representatives, and the Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural
Development of the Senate as co-chairpersons; and six (6) members from each House,
to be designated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate
President, respectively.

The review of the implementation of this Act must include a systematic
evaluation of its impact, accomplishments of the program, and performance of its
implementing agencies. The Oversight Committee shall conduct the review every


three (3) years reckoned from the effectivity of this Act, or whenever deemed
necessary by a majority of the members of the Oversight Committee.

SEC. 20. Preferential Option for Basic Sectors in Capacity-Building. — The CDD
Knowledge and Resource Institute shall prioritize the capacity building of
communities with identified members of basic sectors.

SEC. 21. Appropriations. - The amount needed for the implementation of this
Act shall be charged to the current year's appropriations of the Department of Social
Welfare and Development, Thereafter, such amount as may be necessary for the
continued implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General
Appropriations Act.

The CDD Knowledge and Resource Institute may accept donations and other
forms of assistance in accordance with applicable laws and issuances for purposes
relevant to the implementation of this Act.

SEC. 22. Implementing Rules and Regulation Within six (6) months from the
effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development shall, in
coordination with national government agency members of the Human Development
and Poverty Reduction Cluster, with the participation of the league of barangays,
cities, municipalities, and provinces, and relevant stakeholders, promulgate the rules
and regulations necessary for the effective implementation of this Act.

The CDD Knowledge and Resource Institute may accept donations and other
forms of assistance in accordance with applicable laws and issuances for purposes
relevant to the implementation of this Act.

SEC. 23. Separability Clause. - If any portion or provision of this Act is
declared unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act or any provision not affected
thereby shall remain in force and effect.

SEC. 24. Repealing Clause. - All laws, executive orders, presidential decrees,
presidential proclamations, letters of implementation, rules and regulations or parts
thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.

SEC. 25. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,