"The Alternative Budget lnitiative is a peoples' crusade for a participatory, transparent and accountable budget system. lt creates a vigilant community composed of private and government persons who are (1) aware of the national budget process, (2) are able to monitor and analyze the implementation of the budget, and (3) are able to constructively engage in the budget process. They are equipped with alternative budget proposals which ensure that development trickle down the grassroots level." The Alternative Budget lnitiative brings together legislators from both houses of Congress and representatives of over sixty civil society organizations organized as thematic clusters to craft budget proposals in the areas of health (Technical Working Group on Health), education (Civil Society Network for Education Reforms or E-Net), agriculture (Rice Watch and Action Network or R1), environment (Environment Cluster), and social protection (Social Protection Cluster), and for persons with disabilities (Philippine Coalition on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities). Each thematic cluster is composed of legislators, legislative staff and a variety of civil society actors with different advocacies, agendas, strategies and philosophies. Through a series of meetings, workshops, fora, etc., sometimes with the help of external experts and resource persons, each thematic cluster scrutinizes the proposed budget to determine where each peso is to be spent, and how and whether the expenditure contributes to solving or addressing pressing issues, challenges and problems. Based on the analysis, the thematic cluster proposes an alternative budget that may include proposals for increased expenditures, new or additional concrete items for public funding, exclusion of line items, spending realignment, etc. Their proposals have met with significant results, including, among others: o o o o An increase of PhP 22.7 billion for MDG-related activities in 2007, and PhP 5.5 billion for social services in the 2007 national budget; An increase of PhP 6.3 billion for social services in the 2008 national budget; Additional allocation of PhP 7.7 billion for social development in the 2009 national budget; and lncreases in the budgets for rice, coconut, fisheries, procurement, crop insurance and flexible credit for agrarian reform beneficiaries in the 2013 national budget, Maria Socoro l. Diokno's Human Rights Centered BudgetAnalysis (1999,2001,2003, 20A4, 2006,2009) Diokno has been working on human rights and budget analysis for over a decade. She first articulated her approach in 1999, then, after testing it in the Philippine context, refined it and applied it to the rights to education and adequate food in the Philippines. Diokno's framework involves two phases: revenue and expenditure analysis. The steps she follows are presented below. 52