Citizen Participation and Decentralization in the Philippines

Since the early 1990s, democratization and decentralization have radically changed the functioning of both national and local governments in the Philippines. The Local Government Code of 1992, for instance, reassigned functions and powers that were previously under national agencies to local government units (lgus). Furthermore, the 1992 Urban and Housing Development Act transferred housing, social services and land use functions to local governments, in attempts to curb the growth of informal settlements and poverty. In addition to this, constitutional and legal reforms have led to a national ‘citizen charter’ which has enabled citizens and citizen groups to complain to officials