Higher budget starting this year will boost local governments’��calamity, pandemic response��—��senators��

LOCAL governments’ ability to manage calamities and the continuing coronavirus pandemic will get a boost starting this year with the higher allocation from national taxes, but only with continued support from the national government, two senators said on Monday.

“Constantly faced with huge challenges primarily brought about by calamities and disasters, the significant revenue increases for LGUs (local government units) will certainly be a big boost for them, and hopefully usher in an era of energized and more empowered LGUs,” Senator Leila M. de Lima said in a statement.

“With greater autonomy comes greater responsibility, and resources are key to LGU empowerment and rural progress,” she added.

The LGUs will be receiving P959.04 billion this year from the signed P5.024-trillion 2022 General Appropriations Act. The amount represents 40% of the P2.4 trillion tax base computed by the Department of Finance.

“Doubts being expressed on their spending capacity should serve as a challenge for LGUs to work harder and more efficiently as (the) government braces itself for the start of the implementation of the Mandanas ruling,” Ms. De Lima said.

The national government, she added, “should do all it can to assist and support LGUs in achieving genuine and effective autonomy that is beneficial to all.”��

The Mandanas ruling refers to a 2018 Supreme Court decision that recognizes LGUs’ entitlement to a 40% share of all national taxes and not just those collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.��

President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed Executive Order 138 last year containing guidelines to ensure that the decentralization process and the increase in the LGU’s just share in national taxes will be carried out systematically and smoothly.

Senator Maria Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos, meanwhile, called for the immediate release of the increased funding for LGUs this year.��

“Our LGUs are the frontliners, and they urgently need the long-denied Mandanas-Garcia ruling realized in this year’s national budget,” said Ms. Marcos, chair of the Senate economic affairs committee.

At the same time, she said��national government��assistance��“will still be needed, especially in fourth- to sixth-class municipalities where public hospitals are not ready for a full transfer of functions.”��—��Alyssa Nicole O. Tan��