The national government is studying “very seriously” Executive Order No. 138, considering the existing technical capabilities of local government units (LGUs) and reduced tax allotment this year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday.
“We will now use this one year to carefully study the 138. Let’s see if there are functions that are given locally, but they shouldn’t really be local,” the President said in a speech during the general assembly of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) at the Manila Hotel.
“And so that’s what we are examining, expect as I said that we are taking very seriously the issues that have come out from the Mandanas ruling and how we will implement it because hopefully by next year, by 24 our collection will improve, because on 2021, it improved slightly, our economy slightly flourished, maybe we can get something really,” the President added.
EO No. 138, which directs the full devolution of certain functions of the executive branch to the LGUs, was issued to aid the efficient implementation of the Supreme Court Ruling on the Mandanas-Garcia case and strengthen the autonomy and empowerment of LGUs.
The President described the implementation of the Mandanas ruling as one of the most significant issues faced by the government.
“I’m sure everybody is aware of that and wondering what is really going on,” the President said.
“What happened here is that we had executive order, ‘yung EO 138 that defines the different functions of government and local government. Because what is behind that is the man who says the fund of municipal government, ng provincial government, of the city government because the interpretation was changed there in sharing,” the chief executive said.
According to the President, there are a lot of issues in local government operations that need to be looked into, and “we have to coordinate and to synchronize all that we are doing at the local level with what we are planning to do at the national level.”
“And again, the growth of our economy, the transformation of our economy will always start from the ground level. And if we do not give our local leaders the opportunity to show what it is that they feel are most important, most important project, best variety to do, initiatives, programs,” the President said.
In his speech, President Marcos also assured local governments that his administration would listen to their needs and extend necessary assistance.
“We have to give them a chance that they can do their initiative. So they can show what they are thinking greatly,” the President said.
The SC ruled in 2018 that the just share of LGUs from the national taxes is not limited to “national internal revenue taxes” collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) but also include collections (customs duties) of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and other tax collecting agencies.
It also provided for the creation of a committee on devolution to monitor the implementation of EO No. 138.