The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) urges punong barangays, sangguniang barangay (SB) members to conduct accreditation of barangay-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to ensure their participation in barangay governance and development process.
DILG OIC-Secretary Eduardo M. Año says barangay officials must be proactive in ensuring all NGOs within the barangay are accredited for proper accounting and representation in the Barangay Development Council (BDC) and other barangay-based institutions (BBIs).
“As partners of the government in its pursuit for progress, NGOs play a crucial part in delivering services to the people, especially in the grassroots level. And as such, it is imperative that they are accredited to formalize their operation in the barangay and for their voice to be heard in the BDC, BBIs,” Año explains.
“The punong barangay, SB must therefore carefully enforce their mandated functions of accrediting barangay-based NGOs under their jurisdiction,” he adds.
Under Article 64 (a) of the Local Government Code, within 30 days from the organization of the newly elected sanggunian, each sanggunian concerned shall call all community-based people’s organizations or NGOs, including business and professional groups, to apply with the same LGU concerned for accreditation for membership in the local special bodies.
Accreditation process
In a directive recently released by DILG, punong barangays and SBs are enjoined to ensure participation of NGOs by undertaking information campaign and to encourage all barangay-based NGOs participation in the accreditation and selection process.
According to the DILG Chief, all community-based NGOs, whether previously accredited or seeking accreditation for the first time, shall be handed with the Notice of Call for Application and Accreditation. The same Notice shall be posted in three conspicuous areas of the barangay, on social and print media or on the Barangay website, if available.
The SB, through the Barangay Secretary, shall then prepare the list or directory of interested NGOs containing the name of the organization, contact information of the Head of the Organization, and services offered, among others.
Interested parties are requested to submit a letter of application for accreditation, and the accomplished Application and Accreditation Form (AAF) to the SB with the inclusion of Certificate of Registration issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, list of current officers, and the annual accomplishment report and financial statement for the immediately preceding year.
“Failure to submit all the requirements shall cause the denial of the NGOs accreditation which is why it is important for them to produce all of the supporting documents. Ngunit maaari pa din naman nilang ipasa ang mga requirements basta makumpleto nila,”Año says.
The SB will then pass an Ordinance or Resolution setting the additional criteria, if necessary; set the day for the conduct of assessment and evaluation; assess and evaluate the submitted AAF and other requirements; and direct the Barangay Secretary to document the assessment and evaluation process.
Participating NGOs will then be notified by the Punong Barangay regarding the status of their application for accreditation. Qualified NGOs will be issued with a Certificate of Accreditation indicating the concerned BBI to be represented.
In the same directive, it is stipulated that as much as practicable, only one NGO per sector will be accredited. In the event that there are multiple applicants catering services to the same sector, heads of those NGOs must convene to elect a leader among themselves.
The DILG Chief also reminds interested NGOs and the barangay officials that the accreditation process shall not cost anything hence “collection of any amount in connection to the accreditation shall be subjected to appropriate sanctions, in accordance with the law”. —DILGCO
