President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. delivers a speech at the presidential hall in Malacañang palace to witness the ceremonial contract signing between DOTr and winning bidders of the North-South Commuter Railway Project - South Commuter Packages (CPS) S-02 and S-03B on Thursday, April 27, 2023. KJ Rosales, PPA/pool
MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Friday said he plans to release a fresh executive order on the implementation of the Mandanas ruling, which would clearly define the roles and boundaries of the national and local governments, by the end of the year.
In his speech at the League of Provinces of the Philippines in Pampanga, Marcos said he suspended for one year the implementation of Executive Order (EO) 138, issued by his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, because the delineation of functions were supposedly not clear.
"We have postponed the implementation for a year, for one year," Marcos said.
"And the reason we did this is that doon sa ginawang EO sa nakaraang administrasyon, hindi maliwanag ang sharing, hindi maliwanag ang devolution of functions. And when you do the numbers, ‘pag talagang tiningnan mo lalong-lalo na sa fourth, fifth, sixth class, lugi pa sila," he added.
Marcos earlier said some local executives aired their struggles to implement high-impact projects before the Mandanas ruling fully takes effect next year, with the budget department noting that different areas have different level of capacity in carrying out these programs.
Because of this, consultations with various stakeholders and local government executives were underway regarding an EO in his administration complementing the Supreme Court ruling.
"Palagay namin, since the IRA will be based on the three years before, napakaliit naman ng koleksyon three years ago. So hindi talaga magkaka – kahit na i-implement natin, hindi magkaka-effect sa IRA ninyo," Marcos said.
"We gave ourselves until the end of this year, of 2023, we gave ourselves until the end of this year. And we will then put another – I will then sign another executive order putting into place all – and defining very clearly which of the services, which of the functions belong to the local government and which belong to the national government," he added.
Marcos was referring to the increase of internal revenue allotment from the national government to localities under the ruling, which the World Bank sees as a potential to improve government services nationwide.
"It does not mean na walang made-devolve. Mayroong mga made-devolve na function. Pero ang kaibahan dito ‘yung pag-devolve ng function, may kasabay na item, may kasabay na funding, may kasabay na training," he said.
"if we talk about the partnership between national and local government, marami talaga kaming hihingiin sa inyo na gagawin. But at the same time, we have to also give you the capability," he added.
LINK
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/01/22/marcos-assures-municipalities-of-support-in-devolution-plans
"So you have to have the people who can do it, the people who are trained. And if they are not trained, then we will bring people to come in."
Under the Mandanas ruling, local governments are entitled to a bigger share of the Philippines’ annual revenue after the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the computation of internal revenue allotments (IRA) should include collections from local Customs offices and other tax-collecting agencies.
Local government units previously got their internal revenue allotment from 40 percent of the national internal revenue taxes gotten by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The interior department is eyeing the full devolution of local government units by 2024.