After a gruelling 4-day run at the Assembly Hall of Barangay 176 Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, IBM is set to forward projects developed under it for implementation in the barangay.
Under the i-budget.mo framework of participatory budgeting, citizens are asked to identify needs, issues and problems in their respective barangays, as well as solutions and interventions to address them. Afterwards, they identify representatives amongst themselves who will be trained to develop project proposals using the Department of Budget and Management-approved template. The developed proposal will undergo revisions for improvement, and then be showcased to the citizens during the Community Proposal Fiesta at the IBM Art Gallery, where they will view descriptions and pictures of said projects, to learn more which of them they are going to vote.
Online and offline voting methods was introduced and facilitated throughout the project votation, with online stations set up at ANSA-EAP and ballots for the offline voters. The offline voting was made available from 21-24 July. The closing ceremony on 25 July, Friday, determined the prioritized list of proposals which will be submitted to the barangay.
Jecel Censoro, Project Manager of Checkmyschool, volunteered during the last day of the event. Checkmyschool (CMS) is an ANSA-EAP program in collaboration with the Department of Education. It has gained international recognition by becoming a finalist in the worldwide Ashoka Changemakers Close the Feedback Loop competition. Originally starting in the Philippines, it has also expanded to a 5-year program, with offshoots in Mongolia, Cambodia and Indonesia. Similar to IBM, CMS also works closely with the local government units in order to promote social accountability via constructive engagement and citizen monitoring.
She has this to say about it: “It sounds promising because you see people very happy, they were asking a lot of questions, and they are excited to know which proposals won.”
Inde
ed, the citizens were very participative during the Closing Ceremonies, which featured games, presentation of certificates of participation and plaques of appreciation, and finally the announcement of the projects developed and prioritized via IBM. The games themselves are traditionally Filipino, in keeping with the Fiesta theme, and focused on multi-stakeholder cooperation. The prizes, too, kept in line with the theme of open communications, constituting of mobile phone credits for texting and calling, to ease interaction between the various stakeholders.
There was bated breath in the room when Mme. Rodilyn Surla, Chief of Staff of Punongbarangay Joel Bacolod, and Chad Osorio, IBM Project Manager, announced the top 5 proposals, starting from the least number of votes to the most. There was clapping all around, particularly for the mini-park and livelihood proposals. When it came to number one, solar-powered street lighting, the crowd erupted in cheers. It was a project that would benefit everyone in the barangay.
“I’m very happy for them,” Project Associate Eby Kangleon said. She has been hands-on with the project proposal development from beginning until the community proposal fiesta, and is speaking from her personal experience. “Because from previous interactions with the community, we know that there is a great need for inexpensive street lighting.”
Below is the summary of the table of the results of project votation in Pilot 1, Brgy 176 Bagong Silang, listing the top 5 proposals. For a more complete list, visit www.ibudgetmo.org.
|
Title |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
SMS |
TOTAL |
RANK |
|
Solar Lamp Posts (Pailaw sa mga Purok) |
50 |
53 |
65 |
68 |
2 |
238 |
1st Place |
|
Livelihood (Patahian ng ‘Mini-Garments’ at Figurine Making) |
58 |
35 |
38 |
22 |
2 |
155 |
2nd Place |
|
Scholarships for the Youth |
30 |
25 |
44 |
22 |
1 |
122 |
3rd Place |
|
Mini-Park and Play Area (Palaruan para sa mga Bata: Phase 9, Pkg 7) |
21 |
4 |
35 |
12 |
30 |
102 |
4th Place |
|
Pathwalk and Gate (Pagsasaayos ng Sira-sirang Pathwalks: Phase 4, Pkg 5) |
29 |
17 |
23 |
25 |
0 |
94 |
5th Place |
|
Total Number of Registered Voters |
150 |
119 |
142 |
129 |
34 |
574 |
|
|
Total Number of Votes Cast |
150 |
119 |
285 |
129 |
34 |
1100 |
|
“It’s exciting to know what will happen for the next pilot, and in general, i-budget.mo,” Ms. Censoro said.
At the moment, the schedule of IBM’s Pilot 2 run is being set with Brgy 177 Cielito, still in Caloocan City. Punongbarangay Donata Jarito and her Kagawads are also very positive about the project.
Project Manager Chad Osorio is more than hopeful.
“There is no excuse not to succeed now.”
Stay tuned for more IBM activities at Caloocan City! The i-budget.mo Project is funded by Hivos through the Southeast Asia Technology and Transparency Initiative (SEATTI). For more details, check out www.ibudgetmo.org or email us at info@ibudgetmo.org.