The Department of the Interior and Local Government – National Capital Region (DILG-NCR) further strengthened its commitment to Open Government principles after discussing future partnerships and collaborations with the Quezon City (QC) Government on April 8, 2025 at the Quezon City Hall. The meeting was attended by DILG-NCR Regional Director Maria Lourdes L. Agustin, CESO III, DILG Quezon City Field Office City Director Emmanuel D. Borromeo, CESO V, City Administrator Michael Victor N. Alimurung, and other members of the QC OGP Steering Committee from the Office of the City Administrator, the City Planning and Development Department, the Barangay and Community Relations, and the World Vision Development Foundation.

The QC Government became one of the six local cohorts of the Open Government Partnership in 2024 and has recently submitted its Local Action Plan last February 5, 2025. The City is currently in the process of implementing the action plan, which identified five (5) key commitments: 1) Enhancing Public Participation in the Creation of the Annual Budget of Quezon City Government Departments and Offices; 2) Expanding Access to Legal Services through the Organization of Lawyers for the Provision of Pro-Bono Legal Aid; 3) Increasing Transparency through the Creation of a Centralized Data Dashboard and Feedback Mechanism in the QC E-Services Platform; 4) Strengthening Civic Engagement through Capacity Development on Participatory Governance; and 5) Expanding Civic Engagement through the Establishment of Community Centers for the Bayanihang QC or the Quezon City Volunteer Program. The local action plan underwent a 2-meeting co-creation process together with their partners, World Vision and the People’s Council of Quezon City (PCQC). 

With Quezon City’s present innovations and initiatives to further advance participatory governance within their locality, they have been invited in several distinguished conferences, including the recently concluded Open Government Partnership Asia-Pacific Regional Conference. During the said conference, their first and fourth commitments were recognized as part of the OpenGov Challenge, a call to action which recognizes the most ambitious flagship actions from its members.

The DILG-NCR sought to help the City with the implementation of their local action plan to further the Regional Office’s goal of turning the National Capital Region as a hub for OGP Champions, especially in building the capacities of its CSOs. Meanwhile, the Quezon City Government readily accepted the collaborative partnership to further the Open Government principles in NCR and promote its best practices to invite and involve more NCR LGUs as local cohorts of OGP.

Currently, the DILG-NCR is actively promoting participatory governance across all NCR LGUs and has onboarded CSOs in the co-planning and co-implementation of its projects, programs, and activities.