Hya Bendaña

Ateneo de Manila University · Department of Economics

With the support of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) as our development partner, we launched the Young Budget Leaders Program (YBLP) with our common dream for the budget advocacy — to have a next generation of leaders in civil society trained and empowered to engage the public democratic processes for the budgets that their communities deser...

One of the causes of the systemic shortage in public transport in the Philippines is that transport and infrastructure agencies measure success based on the movement of vehicles and not of people. Current success indicators emphasize the lengths of roads built and speeds of vehicles on those roads, rather than the ability of the transport system to...

Coalition building has been discussed extensively in the fields of collective impact, social work, social change, multiparty negotiation and mediation, sociology and anthropology, economics, civil society, and state relations, among other fields, but there is scant literature on Filipino cases of local coalition-building practitioners who navigate...

Mobility advocates can change the system of mobility in the Philippines by engaging the budget process. What needs to change is the inequity of car-centric public budgeting that has widened our public transport shortage and has made millions of people's commutes harder and more unsafe. From 2010 to 2021, a measly one percent of the country's P2.8 t...

The 2022 budget should be used to fill a Php150-billion gap in investments in road-based public transport, pedestrian, and cycling infrastructure. This shift will address the massive shortage in transport supply made worse by the pandemic. An overwhelming majority of Filipinos across age, sex, education, geography, and socioeconomic class support t...

This briefer outlines key guidelines from 10 national government policies and budget documents to support walking, cycling, and active transport in the Philippines. This briefer was written by members of Move As One Coalition, a broad coalition of more than 140 organizations and 77,000 individual petition signatories fighting for a safe, humane, a...

Move As One is a civil society coalition of more than 140 organizations and 77,000 individuals advocating for a safer, more humane, and inclusive transportation system in the Philippines. We are a group of transport workers, commuters, persons with disabilities, health care workers, cyclists, laborers, youth, transport economists, public policy res...

Investing in public transport will save lives and restart the economy. But the government's priority programs for road-based public transport receive near-zero funding under the proposed 2021 National Expenditure Program. We estimate that we will need P62 billion to fund these IATF-priority programs under the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) 2...

Restart Micro Enterprises (RestartME) compiled a list of digital solutions that microfinance institutions (MFIs) can utilize as they recover and transition from the industry shift caused by the coronavirus pandemic. RestartME recommends that this briefer be used by MFIs to determine which digital solutions they can integrate to their operations as...

Restart Micro Enterprises Inc (RestartME) created a briefer mapping the status of areas and economic sectors under the Enhanced, Modified Enhanced, General, and Modified General Community Quarantine from 1 - 15 June 2020. Now that microfinance institutions and credit cooperatives are now allowed to operate in all 4 quarantine status (ECQ, MECQ, GCQ...

Restart Micro Enterprises Inc (RestartME) created a briefer mapping the status of areas and economic sectors under the Enhanced, Modified Enhanced, General, and Modified General Community Quarantine. Now that microfinance institutions and credit cooperatives are now allowed to operate in all 4 quarantine status (ECQ, MECQ, GCQ, and MGCQ), Restart...

Restart Micro Enterprises (RestartME) created a briefer mapping the status of areas and sectors under the General and Enhanced Community Quarantine. We recommend that this briefer be distributed to microfinance institutions and their clients as a working guide of how they can adjust their operations depending on their area’s community quarantine...

Restart Micro Enterprises (RestartME) compiled a list of government programs that microfinance institutions (MFIs) and their clients can refer to. The briefer is in Filipino to make it easier for clients to understand. Disclaimer: Information may change over time as government agencies update their rules. Constructive criticism welcome via hyabe...

Restart Micro Enterprises (RestartME) compiled a list of government loan assistance and financing options for microfinance institutions (MFIs). This is different from the first advisory which focused on individual assistance. Constructive criticism welcome via hyabendana@gmail.com, kabante@ateneo.edu, and aikarobredo@restartme.ph.