That forgotten thing called the development council

Article X, Section 14 of the 1987 Constitution states, "The President shall provide for Regional Development Councils [RDC] or other similar bodies composed of local government officials, regional heads of departments and other government offices, and representatives from non-governmental organizations within the regions for purposes of administrative decentralization to strengthen the autonomy of the units therein and to accelerate the economic and social growth and development of the units in the region."

Additionally, the Local Government Code requires the establishment of the Local Development Council (LDC) at each local government unit: province, city, municipality, and barangay. However, except for intermittent news reports on their meetings, if any, many people shrug off the functions and activities of RDCs and LDCs.  We forgot that RDCs are so important that they were mandated by the constitution and that LDCs have so many important roles in the development of LGUs. One merely takes time to enumerate their mandated functions in Section 109 of R.A. 7160.  Others go so far as forget and dismiss them entirely as none-entities, as if they don't exist.

Well, maybe not in the case for RDCs, but more so in the case of LDCs.  RDCs are mandated by the Constitution and are under the Office of the President; LDCs by R.A. 7160, and part of the LGUs.  But both are within the same institutional framework, mirroring each other, and are interrelated.  At the national level, we have the NEDA Board, chaired by the president. Locally, the LDCs are chaired by the governor, mayor, and barangay captain.  The unique units here are the RDCs, and this is because there is no elected regional government to speak of-the chair and co-chair are appointed by the president.

As part of the executive branch, the NEDA Board refers to Congress for any policy formulation requiring legislative enactment, while the LDCs "assist the corresponding sanggunian in setting the direction of economic and social development, and coordinating development efforts within its territorial jurisdiction" (Sec. 106, LDC). Again, the odd man out is the RDC since there is no legislative branch at the region.  Insofar as development policy is concerned, the LDC's are more relevant and has the higher institutional mandate; unfortunately, the reality on the ground is that this part of the Local Government Code lags behind in realization.

The real value of the concept of development councils is the importance they place on participatory and consultative processes.  Both the RDC and the LDC are mandated to include representatives of non-government organizations (NGOs), constituting not less than one-fourth of the entire council. But that's just a minimum. Mayor Tomas Osmeña has actually raised this to 40 percent more than a decade ago, and provided NGO members greater participation in the development process. This ultimately resulted in the formulation of the framework of "Cebu City Plus 10." It was signed by 1,000 conveners at a single gathering in 2009.  Unfortunately, the program was scrapped even before it could take off.

But nationwide, development councils are still at their infancy stage, at varying levels of empowerment, depending on the determination and commitment of governors and mayors to the concept of transparent public consultative and participatory processes. But there are indications that we are moving towards the realization of the aspirations of the Constitution and the Local Government Code. Closer to home, we hope the LGUs of Cebu will place more emphasis on their respective LDCs and their workings, empowering them to do their mandated functions. And let's hope the NGOs will take the challenge and do their part in community and nation building.  After all, we are all, and will always be, in this together.