PRESIDENT BONGBONG Marcos said he formed a team to look into issues of devolution and decentralization of the functions of the local and national governments.
Marcos said the team will be headed by the Department
of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), adding he already had extensive
discussions with Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas and the late Interior
Secretary Jesse Robredo on the devolution issue, when he was chairman of the
Senate Committee on Local Government.
The original concept, he said, was to use the
additional internal revenue allotment (IRA) for the 4th, 5th, and 6th class
provinces or local government units (LGUs) and provide assistance to provinces
that operate hospitals but do not have funds. The remainder of the IRA would be
given according to the provisions of the Local Government Code that varies
depending on the LGUs, he said.
However, there are difficulties in applying the ruling
to some cities, and the decision-making was left at the discretion of local
chief executives on how to apportion the money that is appropriated, according
to Marcos. “But we are still continuing to look at it. Ang akin kasing tinitingnan
is ano ba talaga ‘yung — what belongs to local government and what does not
belong to local government,” he said.
“Also, some of the functions that have been given to
local governments, kung minsan hindi lang nagagawa dahil wala tayong bagong
item, wala tayong bagong pondo, wala naman tayong training sa kung ano man
‘yun,” he added.
One example is the land use plan, he said, wherein
several LGUs face difficulty in implementation because of the lack of money and
qualified personnel, adding that the work could be given to the national
government.
Marcos said another contentious issue is the repair of
school buildings. “I was talking to Inday Sara the other day. Sabi ko, ‘paano
gagawin natin kasi hindi pa maliwanag ‘yung repair of school buildings sino
gagawa, sino magbabayad?’ And so, we were talking with Inday. And she said may
budget ng konti ang DepEd but it’s not going to be enough,” he noted. “So, sabi
ko why don’t we give the materials or the funding to the LGU. Kaya naman natin
administration kung school building lang naman, simple lang naman eh. Kung
magtatayo — we can also send assistance.”
These things have to be worked out, Marcos said,
adding that funding sources must also be identified. He said the national
government could provide additional allocation to the local governments that
are mandated by law to conduct school building repairs.
The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling in 2018, giving
the LGUs a just share of all national taxes collected and not only from the
Bureau of Internal Revenue effective 2022. The LGUs get their IRA from 40% of
national internal revenue taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
With the SC ruling, LGUs are projected to increase the IRA by 27.61%.
Marcos said he hopes LGUs support the rightsizing
thrust of the administration to attain efficiency. “Alam naman natin the
bureaucracy kung minsan becomes inflated, becomes bloated and that’s what we
mean by rightsizing, when I talked about rightsizing,” he said.
“Ang ibig sabihin lang naman nu’n ay lahat ng tao, lahat
ng staff niyo kailangan niyo talaga. Eh baka may matira diyan 15, 30 pero huwag
na natin damihan. Let’s make them as streamlined as possible,” he added.
The president said digitalization will also play a
very important part, noting some of the LGUs have already taken the initiative
and already started their implementation. (Mindanao Examiner, OPS)
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