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November 2001 Insights Issue
#38
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to Insights #38
Cebu City:
politics of engagement?
Can the poor
influence the agenda of urban governance institutions? In Cebu, the
Philippines, poor urban groups engage with the City Hall through NGO
and people's organisation (PO) networks. Informal settlers, sidewalk
vendors and trisikad (bicycle with a side car) drivers now realise that
advocacy and negotiation are more productive than evasion, retreat and
resistance.
With NGO facilitation,
homeowner, vendor, and trisikad associations have increased their awareness
of rights and responsibilities, of laws, policies and regulations. Capacity
building is also helping strengthen their organisational capability.
Marginalised groups pursue their demands to ensure the security of the
workplace through:
- lobbying the
mayor and councilors
- negotiating
(personally and through committees created by the city government)
- participation
in planning (public hearings, membership of technical working groups)
- vote trading
(covenant signing in exchange for votes)
At the NGO and PO
network level, sectoral issues are seen through the perspective of the
overall city planning agenda. Speaking with one voice, the coalition,
Kaabag sa Sugbu, has gained political mileage through:
- voters' education
on alternative politics
- mass mobilization
and pressure politics during elections
- linkages with
academia and other middle sectors
- networking with
the media
- participation
in the drafting of the Cebu Master Plan (2000-2020)
- monitoring and
reporting on good governance
Although patron-client
relationships still play a role in Cebu as elsewhere in the Philippines,
a clear trend is emerging towards a politics of engagement on key issues
affecting the urban poor and is slowly but steadily gaining momentum.
Felisa U. Etemadi
University of the Philippines,
3 Don Jose Avila Street,
Capitol Site,
Cebu City 6000,
Philippines
etemadi@cnms.net
See also
'Towards inclusive governance in Cebu, Urban Governance, Partnership
and Poverty WP#25, International Development Department, School of Public
Policy, University of Birmingham by F.U. Etemadi, 2001
www.bham.ac.uk/IDD/activities/urban/
case_studies/WP%2025%20Cebu.pdf |
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