President Marcos has ordered national government agencies to analyze and identify functions that should be devolved to local government units (LGUs).
During a recent meeting at Malacañang, the President underscored the importance of initially defining and identifying priority core functions and services to be devolved to LGUs.
The funding and implementation schedule for these functions and services, contingent on LGU capacity and aligned with minimum standards set by the national agencies, will be determined after establishing the definition and identifying LGU functions and services.
“Should the LGUs lack the funds to implement the functions and services, the national government should have a program to assist them,” the President said in the meeting held on Dec. 21.
President Marcos specifically mandated the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to conduct a sensitivity analysis on the potential gains from the initiative.
NEDA is also tasked with recommending strategies for a phased-in devolution, including a timeline based on LGU capacity.
This is in addition to the ongoing study on the determinants of functions and services to be retained by the national government and those to be devolved to LGUs.
The President has set a February 2024 deadline for the completion of the NEDA study.
In a parallel effort, President Marcos directed the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), in collaboration with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, to compile a list of basic functions and services that LGUs should perform based on their Devolution Transition Plans, in tandem with the national government.
The DILG has been given until January 2024 to present this list to the President, allowing for a one-month lead time compared to the NEDA analysis report.
The DILG has vowed to assist LGUs that would be unable to keep up with the full devolution of some basic services and facilities from the national government.
“We came up with analytics and we look at the capacity, particularly the capacity development needs of our LGUs and we share this with the different national government agencies,” DILG Undersecretary Marlo Iringan said.
“Aside from that, we look at the result of the seal of local governance where we came up with, we identified LGUs which are high capacity and high performance, LGUs which are low capacity, low performance, LGUs which are low capacity and high performance and the last category is high capacity, low performance so that we would focus more our effort, our time in assisting local government units which belong to the category of low capacity, low performance.”
Iringan said not all LGUs have equal access to resources and capabilities to respond to different challenges and the needs of their constituents.
He said they support the extension of the transition period for the full devolution until 2027 to give ample time to the local government units to beef up and increase their capacities.
Iringan said Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. is consistently coordinating with the Department of Budget and Management to help address concerns raised by LGUs.