Philippine context, civil society actors are therefore integral in facilitating community
participation in governance and decision-making processes.
As will be seen in Chapter 7, civil society has begun to occupy a more prominent
position in both the determination of housing policy and implementation of large-scale
resettlement programmes. Where this encourages greater community participation in
the urban development process generally, it will in turn promote Philippine compliance
with standards 3.10 and 3.12, which demand the participation of and consultation with
those affected by development projects.
A robust civil society is also a crucial feature of successful community-based housing
finance initiatives. Many of the land tenure innovations explained later in this chapter
have been initiatives of civil society or have been more successfully implemented with
civil society involvement.
Section 35 of the Local Government Code of 1991 already establishes potential for
collaboration between (local) government and civil society, noting that ‘[l]ocal
government units may enter into joint ventures with people’s and nongovernmental
organizations to engage in the delivery of certain basic services, capacity building and
livelihood training’. Many civil society groups have utilised this mechanism and
entered into partnerships with local governments to deliver housing and resettlement
services for urban poor communities. Notable in this regard are the efforts of NGO
Gawad Kalinga to use the human capital of the community to make community based
efforts more financially viable.83 This model has achieved considerable success and has
also been used effectively by IPD and other NGO actors and coalitions, such as the
Urban Poor Alliance (UPAll) and Urban Poor Associates (UPA), to build successful
proposals for community-based resettlement.
Mindful of the way in which the institutional infrastructure can drastically affect the
enjoyment of housing-related rights, especially in the context of eviction and
resettlement, there should be a general movement to further institutionalise the
participation of civil society throughout all levels of government. The participation of
civil society in this fashion serves to promote the enforcement of human rights and
should be supported as a matter of policy.
6.4
Institutional Functions
(a)
Use and Acquisition of Lands for Social Housing
In addition to governing eviction and demolitions, the UDHA is designed to establish a
continuing housing and urban development programme and mandates special
requirements and conditions for the government expropriation and management of
land to be used for social housing.
The policy basis for this housing and urban development programme is the National
Urban Development and Housing Framework, to be produced by HUDCC pursuant to
section 6 of the UDHA. The most recent version of this Framework, for 2009-2016,
83
See: UN-HABITAT, Innovative Land Tenure in the Philippines: Challenges, Approaches and Institutionalization, p. 9.
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