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Journal of Public Affairs and Development

Abstract

This paper explores the practice of evidence-based policymaking (EBPM) in the municipal council of Santa Fe, Cebu, Philippines. Data for this study is based on a content analysis of the minutes of council sessions and committee meetings from July 2022 to August 2024. The use of evidence in policymaking has caught on among policymakers in the Philippines, at both the national and local levels. However, few studies have examined policymakers' use of evidence in municipal governments, especially those in smaller, less urbanized towns. In the case of the Municipality of Santa Fe, at least 13 kinds of evidence were cited by councilors in their policy discussions during municipal council sessions. They sourced evidence from all the different categories in the policy evidence typologies. However, their use of research knowledge was minimal. On the other hand, the councilors did cite kinds of evidence that the existing typologies could not account. These were sourced from the councilors’ personal prior knowledge, knowledge they already possessed even before being presented with the details of a proposed policy. At least three factors influenced the councilors’ conception of evidence: certain institutional practices in the council office, a heavy policymaking load for the municipal council, and a lack of capable council support staff to organize data. These factors contributed to councilors’ overlooking the diversity of knowledge available to them, despite being a third-class municipality at the northernmost periphery of the province of Cebu.

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