The Emerging Leaders Scholars, together with the officials in Barangay San Jose, Tagaytay, explore the community’s solid waste management plan during the course’s Sensing Session
Tagaytay City, Philippines – The Capability Building on Innovative Leadership for Legislative Staff (CBILLS) Program recently concluded its Legislative Training Course for Emerging Leaders, focusing on policy analysis. Held on June 24-28, 2024 at the Development Academy of the Philippines Conference Center (DAPCC), the course provided scholars from the Philippine Congress with a comprehensive understanding of the policy process, including the tools and techniques for policy design, analysis, and evaluation.
Dr. Eduardo Gonzalez, UP Asian Center Professorial Lecturer and former DAP President, and Atty. Rodolfo Noel Quimbo, Director General of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, introduced the fundamentals of policy analysis and the tools available to scholars to understand their specific markets and stakeholders relevant to their legislative work.
Additionally, Drs. Jalton Taguibao and Jean Encinas-Franco of the University of the Philippines Diliman-Department of Political Science laid the groundwork for policy making, detailing the process from policy formulation to the evaluation of intended outcomes. Director Pamela Diaz-Manalo, OIC-Deputy Executive Director of the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department of the House of Representatives, discussed evidence-based policymaking. She shared insights and potential challenges of these approaches in the Philippines, drawing on examples from Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
The course also featured a sensing session with the Tagaytay local government unit. The scholars were divided into two groups and visited Barangays Kaybagal South and San Jose. They learned about Barangay Kaybagal South’s initiatives to combat child malnutrition and observed Barangay San Jose’s solid waste management plan, Project Butil program, and the Alternative Learning System. This session engaged Emerging Leaders with these communities, allowing them to explore local initiatives that could be incorporated into their policy proposals. Following this, Gilbert Lumantao, director of the Development Academy of the Philippines’ Center for Governance-Policy Research Office, facilitated a session on writing and presenting a policy proposal.
To conclude the five-day course, the scholars presented their draft policy proposals on the environment, health, and education to a panel consisting of Dr. Taguibao, Directors Gilbert Lumantao, and Pamela Manalo. The panel provided feedback aimed at improving the scholars’ proposals.
For the final output, the scholars will refine their policy proposals based on the panel’s comments. This process will demonstrate their understanding of policy analysis and its importance in identifying priority policy issues, crafting and analyzing policy options, and recommending the appropriate course of action. Select proposals will be presented at the inaugural CBILLS Conference in October this year.
(Christopher Brian Caiga)