IN preparation for President Bongbong Marcos’ 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 22, the government television station PTV 4 is running a pre-SONA special series featuring interviews with select Cabinet members. In the program, the officials are given the opportunity to report their departments’ accomplishments and discuss their plans.
Appearing on this TV special, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said he is pushing for amendments to the “already defective” Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.
He said the move is aimed at addressing problems and challenges encountered by local government units (LGUs) in the implementation of projects and delivery of services.
Abalos cited as an example the status of barangay roads, saying the Code mandates that all barangay roads must be funded by barangays. He also mentioned that cities and municipalities are responsible for schools in their jurisdictions, and that these LGUs must provide funds for their construction.
‘Given these figures, Abalos might want to rethink his suggested amendments to the Local Government Code.’
The problem, however, is that poor towns such as 5th and 6th class municipalities do not have the capability to fund these projects, Abalos said.
Since President Marcos Jr. directed all agencies to come up with proposed solutions to this problem of infrastructure in the localities, the DILG’s position is to amend the 30-year-old law and allow the national government to provide funds for the construction of educational facilities.
Abalos also mentioned the problem of solid waste management, how provinces and municipalities should go about collecting and managing their garbage. He said they are working with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) to address these concerns linked to the “proper” devolution of functions from the national government to the LGUs.
In the matter of hospitals, the pointed out that the Local Government Code mandates that provinces must have a tertiary hospital but not all provinces have the financial wherewithal to comply with this provision, so that the national government needs to help them.
Even as he wanted legislators to help in effecting these amendments, Abalos, a lawyer, might be glossing over the fact that what he is proposing is to negate the policy of devolution and bring the nation back to pre-devolution era.
It is not completely correct to say that the many barangays won’t be able to afford the construction of barangay roads. Ralph Recto, before he became Finance secretary, was a representative of the 6th district of Batangas, and he made a study on how the country’s 41,953 barangays and Sangguniang Kabataan groups stand to benefit from the windfall from the implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling of the Supreme Court.
Recto has said close to P174.27 billion Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), or what is now called the National Tax Allotment (NTA), for the country’s 41,953 barangays – 10 percent of which or P17 billion goes to the SK – in 2024. This is a huge amount of public funds to be handled by barangay and SK officials, aside from funds regularly allocated by their respective cities and municipalities for their projects and operations.
Comparing the income that the barangays across the nation are entitled to by law, Secretary Recto noted that the barangays’ P174.27-billion IRA in 2024 is bigger than the P105.6 billion budget of 114 state universities and colleges. It is six times bigger than the P28 billion allocation for the Department of Health’s (DOH) budget for medicine and vaccines. It is also higher than the budget for DOH-run hospitals, and the Department of Agriculture proper which was allocated P108.5 billion.
Given these figures, Abalos might want to rethink his suggested amendments to the Local Government Code.
