The Central Luzon Regional Poverty Reduction Action Team (CL-RPRAT) through the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) convenes the General Assembly of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in 130 cities and municipalities of Region 3 starting October 21 until November 15, 2015.

CSO General Assembly is an inclusive meeting of all CSOs in a city or municipality held at least once a year, during which CSO representatives to the Local Poverty Reduction Action Team (LPRAT) shall be elected. CSO Representatives shall constitute 50% of the members of the LPRAT including the co-chair and two other Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan (LPRAP) signatories.

The assembly aims to gather, analyse and share results of poverty situation and other poverty data in the locality, including the status of BuB projects implementation; to identify problems to be responded to and prioritize projects that shall be recommended to the LPRAT and other local special bodies, in response to the identified problems; and to orient CSOs on their roles in local governance. CSO assembly is the preparatory activity for the BuBProgram whichis a process through which priority projects are identified jointly by local governments and communities/citizens and are incorporated into the proposed budgets of the national government agencies (NGAs) submitted to Congress for approval.

The BuB Program is now on its 4th year of implementation in this Region.In 2014 the first 52 LGU recipients in Central Luzon had undergone the process and received a total of Php 758M worth of poverty reduction projects from different participating NGAs.Fund releases from implementing agencies to LGUs will only be allowed if the beneficiary LGU has complied with the governance conditions, in accordance with the pertinent special and general provisions in the GAA such as the Good Financial Housekeeping of the DILG and the Public Financial Management of the DBM.

This year,all 130 LGUs of Region 3are included and currently implementing poverty reduction projects worth Php 1.6B while their 2016 proposals are currently in Congress for approval and inclusion in the 2016 National Budget. For transparency and accountability, status of BuB Project Implementation is posted on Billboards located in conspicuous places in all cities and municipalities regionwide. Furthermore, the Ugnayanng Barangay at Simbahan (UBAS) was institutionalized to monitor BuB projects at local levels in partnership with the Barangays and local inter-faith organizations. On September 29-30, 2015, the Local Government Academy thru DILG R-3 capacitated CSOsfrom all LGUs on Citizens' Monitoring & Evaluation of BuB projects to comprehend the techniques in monitoring & evaluation of project implementation to ensure that BuB projects are beneficial to all target beneficiaries.

As the fiscal year 2017 BuB planning and budgeting process commences, DILG R-3 Regional Director and CL-RPRAT Chair Florida M. Dijan enjoins all CSOs to participate and take part in the upcoming CSO General Assemblies. For complete schedule per LGU kindly visit DILG R-3 website at www.region3.dilg.gov.ph and/or coordinate with our DILG City/Municipal Local Government Operations Officers and Community Mobilizers for complete details.