Quirino Governor Dakila Cua expressed his agreement with Senator Francis Tolentino’s call for the national government to empower local government units in using the Supreme Court’s Mandanas-Garcia ruling to lessen the effects of the pandemic and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war on the people.
“I agree with Sen. Tolentino that our LGUs should be empowered to deal with the looming global recession. Nabigyan na kami ng mas malaking budget, pero nakatali naman ang mga kamay namin base sa kung anong gusto ng Department of Budget and Management.
The 2018 Mandanas-Garcia ruling increased the share that LGUs can get from the country’s revenues. From just the internal revenue allotment, the share, called the national tax allotment, now includes all national taxes except those accruing to special-purpose funds and special allotments for the utilization and development of the national wealth.
“LGUs face different realities, so the programs that we are allowed to implement should also be context-appropriate,” Cua said.
Cua’s comments came after Tolentino complained that LGUs were constrained by the DBM in using the increased allocations from the Mandanas-Garcia ruling.
“Etong DBM–the outgoing officials–nagbigay sila ng mga guidelines, alituntunin kung paano gagastusin ang (additional allocations sa) Mandanas ruling… napakalaking halaga niyan. Kung may napipinto o ongoing na yung recession, at dapat bigyan ang ating mga LGUs na gamitin nila hindi (lang) dun sa imposed ng DBM… dapat tumugon sa (tunay na) pangangailangan,” the legislator said in a radio interview.
“Hindi yung i-impose na lang ng DBM kung ano yung dapat gawin ng mga local government units… halimbawa po kasi ang kanilang menu eh pang-almusal, eh hapunan (naman yung binibigay). Kailangan (dapat) kung ano yung pangangailangan,” the Senate Committee on Local Government chair added.
The 2018 Mandanas-Garcia ruling increased the share that LGUs can get from the country’s revenues. From just the internal revenue allotment, the share, called the national tax allotment, now includes all national taxes except those accruing to special-purpose funds and special allotments for the utilization and development of the national wealth.
The NTA for LGUs set aside from this year’s P5.02-trillion budget amounts to P959.04 billion, a significant jump from the IRA worth P695.49 billion in 2022.
Cua, who used to chair of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means, said that rather than imposing the programs that LGUs can implement, the government should instead focus on ensuring that LGUs are able to properly craft programs and spending strategies.
“The national government should assist LGUs on policy and standards development for service delivery, provide technical assistance, and performance monitoring and assessment. Bigyan natin sila ng kapabilidad na mag-isip para sa kanilang sarili imbes na ini-spoonfeed natin ang dapat nilang gawin,” the governor added.
