The LADP is the Philippines’ longest running executive education program for elected local government officials. Launched in 1968, three years after the Center's founding, the LADP has around 2,000 alumni from 48 batches composed of governors, vice governors, mayors, vice mayors, DILG staff, and senior LGU staff.
Some LADP graduates were able to move on to national office or were able to take leadership positions in local government associations. Many of them look back at their training in the LADP as an important factor to their success in local government.
Federalism Studies and Comparative Local Government
Our staff and affiliate faculty have firsthand knowledge on the federal systems of Switzerland, Germany, the United States and Australia as well as the local government systems of Italy and Japan. Their research areas include comparative knowledge of systems in Asia and the Pacific.
CLRG hosts visiting scholars and professors who want to study decentralization and local government in the Philippines or use the Philippines as their home base for a comparative study on decentralization in the region. We can facilitate research in the field and help researchers touch base with our partner local governments.
The program's federalism component was launched in 2007 at the height of the discussions of the issues surrounding the “federal option” for the Philippines. Federalism studies and knowledge exchange were undertaken with the help of Switzerland's Institute of Federalism based at the University of Fribourg.
Because the Philippines is considered a pioneer in political, administrative and fiscal decentralization in Asia, ARCD was founded in 2003 through the initiative of former Director Alex Brillantes, Jr. as an online repository of decentralization references for the region.
The ARCD website featured open access downloadable case studies of decentralization experiences in Asia as well as a Regional Resource Information Facility for Women in Local Government. Selected content from the original ARCD as well as new resources are now housed under this website.
The LGLA is an award conferred by a consortium of prestigious universities in the Philippines. Former Senator Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr., principal author of the 1991 Local Government Code, brought together these institutions to recognize the important role that leadership plays in the best practices and innovations in local government.
CLRG acts as the secretariat of the LGLA which confers the awards for Outstanding Governors, Outstanding City Mayors and Outstanding Municipal Mayors.
The prestige of the award is defined by the recognition that is jointly conferred by the University of the Philippines, the Senate of the Philippines, DILG and the Local Government Academy, De La Salle University, and the Development Academy of the Philippines. Representatives from the Ateneo School of Government, University of San Carlos-Cebu, and Mindanao State University also participated in some award cycles. The LGLA is undergoing reformatting which may involve a wider participation from regional universities.
