A PROPOSAL to introduce amendments to the 31-year Local Government Code tops Sen. Francis Escudero’s list of 20 priority measures filed in the 19th Congress.
Escudero said RA 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 needs to be amended to strengthen the autonomy of local government units through a more rationalized system of decentralization.
To support the autonomy of LGUs, Escudero has also filed a measure which seeks to prohibit “any form of interference” by the national government on the use of the national tax allotment, previously the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), and other locally generated revenues.
He said the filing of these twin bills is part of his campaign promise to be the “voice of the LGUs” in the Senate by ensuring that local government units are genuinely empowered and autonomous as mandated in the 1987 Constitution and RA 7160.
“I filed these proposed measures to ensure that our local governments are free to decide and implement programs for their constituents,” said Escudero, who served as governor of Sorsogon from 2019 to 2022.
“Based on my experience as governor, local officials know well how to run their respective governments. They know what’s happening on the ground and they know what’s best for their constituents. Certainly, they are also more knowledgeable than any government officials who are just issuing directives and orders from their air-conditioned offices in Manila.” he added.
Among the amendments to the Local Government Code that Escudero is proposing is the “effective allocation among the different local government units of their respective powers, functions, responsibilities, and resources independent of any restrictions from the national agencies.”
He also proposed that LGUs establish an “independent, accountable, efficient, and dynamic organizational structure and operating mechanism that will meet the priority needs and service requirements of its communities.”
“For local autonomy to be made effective, it must amount to effective authority for local government units to decide matters concerning local affairs. And although it may not be absolute, the parameters limiting its exercise must not give the national government the power to restrict the actions of local government units or to substitute its judgment with their own,” Escudero said in his explanatory note accompanying his proposed bill on RA 7160 amendments.
The “no interference” bill mandates all agencies of the national government not to issue or execute any rules or regulations “in the form of memoranda, circulars, orders, resolutions, guidelines or any other issuances in the performance of their respective statutory functions and duties that shall interfere, in any form, with the use of the National Tax Allotment and locally generated revenues of LGUs.”
