ONE of the failed promises of the Local Government Code of 1991 is the institutionalization of community processes for local planning. By institutionalization, I mean the general acceptance of sound planning as something that benefits a constituency, regardless of whether or not there is a law requiring them to go through those processes.

I have assisted several barangay (villages) in my home province of Eastern Samar in formulating their barangay development plans (BDPs), and my general impression is that our barangay officials do not own their issues nor the solutions that seek to address those issues. Some of them do not even have a hard copy of their BDPs.