So the public may know: The first 100 days of DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo

November 16, 2010
Prepared by the Department of Interior and Local Government
 
THE FIRST 100 DAYS:  Where Local Governance Reforms Converge

In the first one hundred days of the administration of His Excellency President Benigno S. Aquino III, we at the Department of the Interior and Local Government have sown and nurtured the seeds of good governance and peace and order in provinces, cities and towns all over the Philippines, in the hope that the years ahead would see transparency, accountability, responsiveness, and committed volunteerism at the heart of local governance in the country.

PERFORMANCE-DRIVEN LOCAL GOVERNANCE

We have combined ongoing and pioneering programs to ensure that local governments (LGUs) provide high level of performance in meeting the demands and expectations of our people in accordance with mandated functions, duties and responsibilities.

The Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS), an assessment tool which measures the performance of LGUs in various areas of governance, ensures that more than half of all LGUs are accomplishing their State of Local Governance and State of Development Reports (SLGR and SDR).

The Seal of Good Housekeeping identifies LGUs that performs excellently in the key governance areas of planning, fiscal management, transparency and accountability, and performance monitoring.  This seal is essential for LGUs to avail of the Performance Challenge Fund (PCF), which seeks to recognize best practices in local governance that guarantee attainment of development goals.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

We have implemented the Full Disclosure Policy that urges all LGUs to reveal fully their budgets and finances and bids
and public offerings by posting them on the Internet, print media of community or general circulation and in conspicuous places. To affirm our people’s right to information, the policy requires full disclosure by all LGUs of their CY 2010 annual budget and quarterly statement of cash flows.

We have conducted extensive dialogues and consultations with LGU leagues and other development partners in making the policy more effective.

We have forged partnership with Balay Mindanao, a non- government organization that seeks to alleviate poverty and promote peace and order, and people participation in local governance in Mindanao.

We will utilize the organization’s Budget Tracking Towards Transparent and Accountable Governance(BTTAG) program in extensively monitoring the performance of LGUs.

We have instituted reforms in our procurement procedures to reduce discretion of people involved in the process and to make sure that our people’s money are utilized for meaningful and necessary programs and projects.

We have encouraged non-government organizations to act as observers during biddings to ensure that procurement laws are being followed.

PEOPLE POWER VERSUS POVERTY

We have localized our approach in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to strengthen efforts to significantly reduce poverty in the country and to spur economic development in the countryside.

We have intensified the Community-Based Monitoring System and have implemented theLocal Government Support Program. These measures enable LGUs to effectively monitor and evaluate the progress of local poverty-alleviation programs that contribute to the attainment of the MDGs.

We enhanced the delivery of basic services to the people of Visayas and Mindanao and opened up their lives for more economic opportunities through our Provincial Road Management Facility, a governance reform project that uses road rehabilitation in improving local government systems and processes.

We stepped up our efforts in delivering affordable and quality potable water to people living in 45 local government units nationwide through the Enhancing Access to and Provision of Water Services to the Poor or the MDG:1919 project.

ACCESSIBILITY

To make processes and procedures in local governance work, it is important for LGUs to be very accessible to stakeholders. Hence, we have strengthened the implementation of theComprehensive and Unified Response to Eliminate Red Tape (CURE) program through policy audit and compliance tracking of LGUs’ initiatives against red tape.

Our campaign against red tape was highlighted by the signing of a Joint Memorandum Circular between the DILG and the Department of Trade and Industry for the nationwideStreamlining of Business Permits and Licensing System Reform Project.
From the initial 40 local government units that have been capacitated early this year, we expect close to 200 LGUs to have been capacitated by the end of this year. This paves the way for making LGUs havens of investment and business.

We have enjoined local chief executives to designate a Local Economic and Investment Promotion Officer to help in the preparation, coordination and execution of local economic investment promotion policies and projects and activities.

DISASTER-RESILIENCE

We implemented calamity response protocols and associated actions in flood and landslide-prone areas that calls for among others the activation of all disaster command and auxiliary command centers and area-wide warning and alarm system.  The protocols and actions facilitate deployment of emergency response, rescue and medical teams in areas hit by disasters.

We forged a Memorandum of Understanding with local government units for the implementation of Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction/ Climate Change Adaptation to Local Government Processes, a project urging LGUs to integrate disaster mitigation and prevention programs into their local physical and developmental plans.

We have started restoring the lives of people in Central Luzon and the rehabilitation of their communities through the project Strengthening the Disaster Risk reduction Capacity of LGUs Affected by Typhoon Parma.

We have taken initial steps in ensuring that LGUs have substantial fund to address disasters that come their way through the proposed National Disaster Funds Pool for LGUs or thePaluwagan para sa Paghahanda sa Kalamidad. The program aims to pool the calamity fund of the LGUs and augment them with the national calamity fund to improve their capacity to respond to calamities and disasters.

GOOD GOVERNANCE IN ARMM

To propagate transparency and accountability in governance in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, dialogues have been conducted and agreements were reached on new measures to improve performance. 

We have started to conduct a Special Audit covering the period January 2008 to December 2009. We have looked into the Office of the Regional Governor’s fund utilization and the regional government’s Social Fund. We also have looked into the provincial government of Maguindanao and the regional offices of national government agencies.

RESETTLEMENT

We have looked into the plight of informal settlers all over the country to comply with the directive of His Excellency President Benigno S. Aquino.

We have identified 1, 011, 916 informal settlers in cities and municipalities throughout the country. We have checked the existence of local housing boards. An ongoing audit reveals that 73 cities do not have housing boards.

To address the situation, we enjoined all local executives to immediately identify lands within their areas of jurisdiction that can be used for urban housing, as well as for them to update their respective Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

We have conducted intervention on forced evictions that resulted in the suspension of demolition.
We have capacitated barangay development councils in helping informal settlers.

We also have forged partnership with government agencies and non-government organizations and other stakeholders to comprehensively address the plight of informal settlers.

EMPOWERMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

To improve local governance, promote local autonomy and make the Local Government Code more responsive, we have crafted various legislative proposals that are focused on providing local governments greater flexibility in revenue generation and raising financial resources.

The proposed Local Government Enhancement Fund aims to address the problem of adjustment on the cost of devolved functions and incentive performance by providing five percent adjustment fund to compensate LGUs with negative transfer or where their current IRA does not cover the cost of devolved services, and another five percent performance-based grant to support LGUs which exhibit good performance in fiscal management and local service delivery.

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERISM

To create an environment where our people can freely and actively engage in local governance, we have established the Partnership Coordination Office to provide technical and legal support to our programs and projects implemented in partnership with non-government organizations.

We have accredited organizations that can have representatives to special bodies in the local level and help in promoting accountability, transparency, inclusivity, and performance in local governance.

INTERNAL GOVERNANCE IMPROVEMENT

To walk the talk, we keep in stride with the LGUs in effecting reforms and changes in our own organization, processes and systems to realize the President’s vision.

We have made our website more interactive and user-friendly to allow the public to comment on our draft policy issuances. We reestablished the Public Assistance and Complaint System to attend to the needs of the general public.

We have eliminated redundant positions. With this, we have not only generated savings, but ensured that a “lean but mean” organization is ready to address the needs of our clients.

We also have stopped issuing Fire and Life Safety Assessment Report (FALAR) as supporting document in the issuance of a Fire Safety Inspection Certificate.

PEACE AND ORDER AND PUBLIC SAFETY

To strengthen peace and order drives throughout the country, Regional Peace and Order Councils (RPOCs) have been reinforced. We have put into operation Crisis Management Committees nationwide to anticipate emergency situations.

The Philippine National Police has scored big in our firm and resolute drive against trafficking in persons, in line with the directive of the President.

To give more teeth to our campaign against illegal gambling, the “one-strike” policy is now in place and vigorously enforced.

We have reviewed our guidelines on the procurement of PNP equipment, conduct of public bidding, as procedures for the approval of the PNP procurement manual.

We have restructured the PNP Highway Patrol Group, Finance Service and Intelligence Group.

We have conducted inspection and audit of 527 police offices nationwide to determine their state of readiness in
responding to peace and order challenges.

The Bureau of Fire Protection and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology have reviewed their inventory and distribution of property and equipment to rationalize the allocation of prisoner vans and fire trucks.

We have made the wheel of justice grind faster in the National Police Commission (Napolcom) nationwide through the implementation of the “zero backlog case” program.  The campaign speeds up the resolution of administrative cases involving policemen pending before the Napolcom Legal Affairs Service (LAS), the Regional Appellate Boards (RABs) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS).

Things I Learned from Sec. Jesse Robredo

by Harvey S. Keh
Published at the Manila Bulletin, August 25, 2012

I met Secretary Jesse Robredo in 2001 at an event organized by Synergeia Foundation, one of the country’s more effective institutions in improving our public education system.

Since then, Sec. Robredo has become one of the people I have looked up to for advice. His effective brand of leadership has been a constant source of inspiration for me.

As such, I wanted to share the things that I have learned through the years that I worked with him:

I learned that there are still people like him who remain ethical despite being in government service. Many people dissuaded me from entering government service, telling me  that no one survives the current system of pervasive graft and corruption. Sec. Robredo showed that one need not compromise his or her values and principles to be able to govern and deliver basic services to the people in an effective manner.

When I asked him what was his secret for being steadfast in his values, he told me that his faith in God and his family are his main foundations, and this is the second lesson that I learned from him.
In a society where we hear of politicians having several wives and families, we have someone like Sec. Robredo who had put premium on his being a loyal husband and a loving father who devoted time to his three daughters.

Read the rest of the article here.

Si Tyl at si Kai

by Mayor Jesse Robredo
Published in Abante, September 27, 2009

Magmula nang magsimula ang aming grupong Kaya Natin, ilang paaralan na rin ang aming napuntahan at libu-libo na ring mga kabataang Pilipino ang nakarinig ng aming mga kuwento tungkol sa maayos na pamamalakad at pagbabago. Gaya ng parating sinasabi ng aking kasamahang si Gov.

Grace Padaca ng Isabela, naniniwala rin ako na ang kabataan ay ang isa sa mga pinakamahalagang sektor ng ating lipunan na kailangan nating bigyang pansin kung nais nating humalal ng mga mabuti, matino at magagaling na lide­r sa nalalapit na eleksyon sa 2010.

Dalawa sa mga kabataang tumutulong sa amin sa Kaya Natin ay sina Cristyl Senajon at Kai Pastores. Kakatapos pa lamang nila sa kolehiyo nang magsimula silang tumulong sa amin sa pagsusulong ng aming mga adhikain. Si Cristyl o Tyl ay nagtapos bilang Valedictorian ng Ateneo de Davao University habang si Kai naman ay nagtapos na Cum Laude sa Ateneo De Manila University. Dahil nakatapos sila sa magagling na paaralan siguradong madali silang makakahanap ng trabahong magbibigay sa kanila ng mataas na sweldo ngunit pinili pa rin nilang maglingkod sa Ateneo School of Government at sa Kaya Natin.

Malaki talaga ang naitulong nilang dalawa sa pagsusulong ng aming kilusan na humihikayat sa bawat mamamayang Pilipino na humalal ng mga lider na isasantabi ang kanilang sariling interes at uunahin ang kapakanan ng nakakarami at mahihirap. Ipinakita nina Tyl at Kai na kahit sila ay bata pa, pwede na silang maging malaking bahagi ng pagbabagong minimithi nating lahat.

Sana tularan at maging mabuting halimbawa sila sa iba pang mga kabataang Pilipino na makilahok at makisangkot sa paghubog ng mabuting kinabukasan para sa ating bayan.

Kabataan din ang magiging susi sa kampan­ya nina Senador Noynoy Aquino at Senador Mar Roxas na ngayon ay tumatakbo sa plataporma ng tunay na reporma at pagbabago. Ngayon pa lamang marami akong mga kaibigan na nagsabing ang kanilang mga anak ay pumila ng ilang oras upang makapagrehistro dahil gusto nilang suportahan at iboto ang tambalang Aquino-Roxas. Ilang lider kabataan na rin sa mga malalaking paaralan sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng bansa ang nag-umpisa nang kuma­lap ng mga volunteer para sa kampanya nina Noynoy at Mar. Nakakatuwa na tila nabibigyan ng bagong pag-asa at lakas ang mga kabataan dahil na rin sa tambalang Aquino-Roxas.

Sa aking pagkakakilala sa dalawang ito, sigurado akong hindi nila bibiguin ang mga kabataang Pilipino tulad nina Tyl at Kai na nagnanais makakita ng bagong Pilipinas sa mga susunod na taon.
 

Jesse Robredo, A Man for Others

by Dean Tony La Viña
Published in Rappler.com, August 22, 2012

Jesse Robredo and I belonged to the same generation of Ateneans. He was a student of Ateneo de Naga High School at the same time I was studying in Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan.

He must have been exposed to the same Jesuit mantra as all of us in that generation were: “You are called to be men and women for others,” a phrase coined by Fr Pedro Arrupe, SJ, Father General of the Society of Jesus, in a 1973 speech to alumni of Jesuit schools.

Upon hearing of the crash of Jesse’s airplane while I was in Kathmandu, Nepal last Saturday, as a way of coping with my helplessness and worry, I decided to prepare for the worst and began thinking of how to honor this great man.

I did not have to look farther than what our Jesuit mentors taught us. More than anything, as a leader’s leader, a servant of the people, and a family man, Jesse Robredo was truly a man for others.

Let us recall Arrupe’s definition of “men and women for others,” the prime educational objective of Jesuit institutions: “men and women who will live not for themselves but for God and his Christ – for the God-man who lived and died for all the world; men and women who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; men and women completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for others is a farce.”

Later in the same speech, Arrupe elaborates and says a man-and-woman-for-others lived simply, committed to a life of service, and sought to change unjust social structures. This is an accurate description of Jesse Robredo and how he lived both his private (to the limited extent I was exposed to this) and public life.

A simple life
Jesse Robredo lived simply. Stories abound of how Jesse was so unassuming, dressed always modestly, lived in ordinary abodes (not villas nor mansions), had simple (but great) taste in food, and was always comfortable, as the mayor of Naga and Interior secretary, to “mix it up” with his constituents and his staff.

Indeed, as one of his staff commented on television, he enjoyed being with people on the ground and the streets more than being with those in social events.

My colleagues Joy Aceron and Francis Isaac, in Frontline Leadership, a book published by the Ateneo School of Government, described how the way Jesse dressed gave “the impression that fashion is not among his priorities.”

They recount his wife Leni’s story of how she once bought her husband a Lacoste shirt and how he never wore it, knowing perhaps how much it cost. Robredo, according to Aceron and Isaac, attributed his simple taste to his parents. “Growing up in a family that did not put a premium on material goods or riches, he and his siblings were taught by their parents to refrain from seeking any favor or special privileges, and instead to measure the degree of their success based on the amount of labor that they have exerted.” Read more

Jesse Robredo: "If I were President..."

by Miriam Grace Go
Posted in Rappler.com, August 27, 2012

It was initially ironic, in the eyes of some fellow journalists, that I couldn’t immediately type away a tribute to Jesse Robredo.

I practically grew up with him professionally. He was head of the League of Cities at the time the Local Government Code was up for a first review since its enactment. I was a newspaper reporter urged by my editors to keep an eye on this sector that had started pushing for more powers, autonomy, and resources from the national government.

The coverage evolved into conversations over the years. Local governance was our common passion; good administration, both our ideal. Politics was a reality we both grappled with whenever I asked the practical, at times awkward, questions. Campaigns and elections were a most absurd necessity we often afforded to laugh about only when they were over.

Face to face, voice calls, text messages—he would answer; he had answers. Truthful. Realistic. Sometimes pragmatic. But always—always—giving you the feeling that it’s alright, even this once, to shed off a bit of your cynicism; that it’s not strange if you wrap up an interview feeling a bit hopeful for this country, or for the countryside at least. Read more

Ramon Magsaysay Award Citation for Jesse Robredo

Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation
Citation for 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service
Jesse M. Robredo, Mayor, Naga City
 
It is sad but true. Democratic government is not necessarily good government. Too often, elections yield power to the few, not the many. Injustices linger beneath the rhetoric of equality. Corruption and incompetence go on and on. Voters, alas, do not always choose wisely. And yet, in Asia and the world at large, much is at risk when democracy founders, because democracy is the hope of so many. Jesse Manalastas Robredo entered Philippine politics at a time when hope was high. As mayor of Naga City from 1988 to 1998 he demonstrated that democratic government can also be good government.

In the wake of his country's People Power Revolution in 1986, Jesse Robredo responded to President Corazon Aquino's call to public service. He abandoned his executive position at San Miguel Corporation to head the Bicol River Basin Development Program in Naga, his hometown. In 1988, he stood for election as mayor and won by a slim margin. He was twenty-nine. Read more

The First Meeting

This article appeared on the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer the Sunday following their first meeting.
 
2 governors, mayor share best practices

by TJ Burgonio
Published at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 16, 2008

MANILA, Philippines--And then there were three, all leading lights in local politics who have joined hands to preach good governance in the hope this would be replicated elsewhere.

In their first much-awaited meeting, Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo, Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca and Pampanga Gov. Eddie "Among Ed" Panlilio plotted on Tuesday night their future, and the country's.
Over dinner of sinampalukang manok, pancit molo and bistek Tagalog at Club Filipino in San Juan City, the three officials agreed to tackle together problems, and more importantly, share their "best practices" in governance with other local chief executives. Read more

Important Dates

Mark these dates on your calendar! Thirty-three days before the deadline of application for the Jesse Robredo Youth Leaders Camp. Cramming is not one of the traits of a Robredo leader, so get started on your application now!

December 19, 2012 (Wednesday) Deadline of Applications
January 16, 2013 (Wednesday) Release of List of Accepted Applicants
February 8, 2013 (evening) Check in at Camp Explore, Antipolo City, Rizal
February 8-10, 2013 Jesse Robredo Youth Leaders Camp
February 10, 2013 (afternoon) Check out

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog of the Jesse Robredo Youth Leaders Camp. Organized by the Jesse M. Robredo Foundation in cooperation with the Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership and the Ateneo School of Government, the camp will give college student leaders a chance to learn more about the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and how to be leaders with Robredo principles and values.

This blog will serve as an information portal for details and updates about nominations, applications, schedules, as well as articles on Robredo as published in different websites and newspapers.