On November 30, 2016, CSOs in Cebu gathered to initiate a convergence for good and participatory natural resource governance. From this gathering a collective realization was made: that with the many significant steps taken and key findings discovered pertaining to natural resource governance through the PH-EITI, perhaps the most relevant for Cebu is the recommendation from broader sectors about implementing the transparency and accountability framework subnationally. This gave birth to Sectoral Transparency Alliance on Natural Resource Governance in Cebu, Inc. or STANCe.

In a nutshell, this responds to the longstanding clamor of citizens for multilateral, cross-sectoral framework to provide ample civic space within the entire value chain of the extractives sector. This requires on one hand a responsive body able to scrutinize data, push for policy reforms, understand key vulnerabilities, safeguard the rights of local communities, monitor revenue spending and influence social funds for the maximum benefit of citizens. On the other hand, this organic body must be able to network with key stakeholders, dialogue with concerned industries and government agencies and even demand from mandated bureaucracies the implementation of laws as well as the monitoring of the most acceptable standards of implementation.

The organization undertook grassroots consultations and FGDs especially in the mining communities of Naga City, Toledo City and San Fernando to facilitate an understanding of the in situ context of communities hosting extractive industries.

STANCe is also a member of Publish What You Pay and Bantay Kita, respectively the global and national coalition of civil society organizations advocating for transparency and accountability in the extractive industries.

STANCe implemented projects and research work to support its advocacy:

1. Open Mining Governance – a Hivos funded project which cascaded data and information from the Philippine -Extractive Industry transparency Intiative (PH-EITI) annual country report to mining affected communities in Toledo Cebu through infographics that made these data and information more comprehensible and useful to the said communities. Also, through this project, the mining affected communities themselves were able to verify and validate the data in the report giving them more space to participate in the governance of our mineral resources.

2. Institutionalizing Community Participation in Natural Resource Governance at the Sub-national Level – a project of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) in the Province of Cebu

intended to institutionalize the subnationalization of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) model of governance through processes and methods leading to the creation of a multi-stakeholders group composed of the oversight government agencies on the extractive industry, the representatives of the mining industries, and the civil society organizations in mining affected communities that will ensure not only the implementation of the EITI standards on transparency accountability in the province but also the collaborative and participatory mineral and natural resource governance.

3. The Cebu Extractive Industry Transparency and Accountability Initiative – a USAID funded project through Project DATA supporting a scaling-up of multilateral engagement for an integral local multistakeholder group for extractive industries transparency and accountability and good natural resource governance.

At present, STANCe, is a commitment holder and the Visayas non-government Steering Committee representative of PH-OGP in the implementation of the EITI standards and advocacies in the Province of Cebu. It is also represented to the PH-EITI MSG of the Republic of the Philippines.

It also represents civil society to the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board prior to the 2019 elecions.