A network of civil society groups welcomed the Senate finance committee’s approval of the proposed budget for Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process (GPBP), which is part of the total budget of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
In a statement, Kilos Mamamayan (KM) said the P20-billion budget of GPBP, also known as Bottom-up Budgeting (BUB), would benefit hundreds of thousands of residents of more than 1,600 cities and towns nationwide.
Under the program, a city is entitled to a budget support of P30 million while a municipality is entitled to P12.5 million.
“Through the program, the people together with local governments are able to voice out their sentiments and tell the national government what projects or programs should be funded for implementation by various national government agencies,” said Marco Polo Ferrer, KM secretary, in the statement.
“It is only through GPBP that we, the poor and members of basic sector organizations, feel important to the government,” he said.
On Friday, the group helped organize, with the DILG, a regional conference on GPBP at the Tagaytay International Convention Center.
At least 400 leaders and members of civil society groups and 50 local chief executives took part in the conference during which the campaign dubbed “MilyongLagda para sa GPB” was launched.