Month: September 2016

Assessing the State of Devolved Services

Dialogue with the NGAs
Ballroom, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Makati City
31 May 2011

The idea of decentralization and local governance has been so revolutionary that inevitably, much expectation and optimism has been placed on the concept. However, the continued strong political influence of the national government, legal restrictions, failure to actualize decentralization beyond administration and lack of clear policy directions, fiscal and technical capacities among others have contributed to the underwhelming results and lethargic performance of some local governments. It is therefore not completely unthinkable that the clamor to revert back to the national government some devolved services has been launched.

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Revision of the Local Government Code is long over due

Evidently, much has changed since the Code’s promulgation. The law needs to be adjusted in order for it to remain congruent with the needs of the time. However, Congress has yet to conduct a comprehensive review of the Code more than 20 years after its enactment– despite the law stating that it needs to be revisited every after 5 years of implementation.

The Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) is the single most-dominant tool that can influence the direction, substance and outcome of the devolution program in the country . IRA distribution and control may be affected by two factors: Its sheer magnitude imbues it with much potential for political use; and Congress’ failure to approve the national budget on time, resulting to a re-enacted budget, which means that LGUs are likely to receive less than what they should have received

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Creation of a National Policy on Land Use and Development Planning

National and local perspectives are naturally conflicting as the national is broad while local is specific. However, policymakers must understand that the functions of the national and local governments are complementary and interdependent. With clear policy direction, standards and proper coordination, the inputs of the local government units on local issues can be incorporated in the development plans of the national government and vice versa.
Despite the commendable existing legislation governing the use of land and other natural resources, there is no overarching framework encompassing the whole country. The whole system is governed by multiple laws, regulations processes and standards, and is managed by multiple institutions (i.e. Department of Justice, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Agrarian Reform among others) with limited collaborations .

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Our Common Ground

• To formulate a Philippine Local Governance Reform Program that will consolidate, evaluate, and prioritize the various proposals for enhancing local governance and decentralization in the Philippines, including proposed amendments to the Local Government Code
• To generate, communicate, and disseminate systematic researches that will clarify or support alternative policy options for local governance reform, bringing them to the level of decisional confidence by the appropriate authorities;
• To purposively advocate the Local Governance Reform Program and its component proposals in the legislative, executive, administrative, and other relevant policy arenas;
• To build and sustain a wide network of stakeholders in local governance reform known for institutional integrity, credibility, anpetence from the public sector, the private sector, and the civil society sector, to enable them to identify and work for common goals;
• To generate and manage financial and other resources to support the objectives of the organization

Organizing Committee

The following were elected to become members of the PCGLG Organizing Committee, tasked to conceptualize and craft the Consortium By-Laws:

• Dir. Manuel Gotis of the Bureau of Local Government Development (BLGD)
• Dir. Arnold Tan of the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF)
• Mr. Ronald Golding of the Senate Economic and Planning Office (SEPO)
• Mr. Rudy Vicerra of the Congressional Planning and Budget Department (CPBD)
• Mr. Alex Villano of the League of Provinces (LPP)
• Ms. Hilda Corpuz of Cities (LCP)
• Atty. Monina Camacho of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP)
• Dir. Eleuterio Dumogho of the Office of Sen. Aquilino Pimentel
• Prof. Edmund Tayao of LOGODEF
• Ms. Cathy Tiongson of KAISAHAN
• Mr. Ramon Padilla of Disaster Risk Reduction Network
• Dr. Segundo Romero of LaSalle Institute of Governance (LSIG)
• Dr. Grace Jamon of the Association of Schools of Public Administration (ASPAP)
• Ms. Marivel Sacendoncillo of the Local Government Academy

Our Story

The Local Government Development Foundation (LOGODEF) launched a series of roundtable discussion (RTD) last 2009 – 2010 to identify needed legislative reforms that will pave way for the improvement of local governance in the country. The gathering of local stakeholders, composed of local government units, concerned national agencies, members of the civil societies and the academe, however, revealed that certain areas of concern need to be addressed more urgently

The Philippine Consortium on Good Local Governance (PCGLG) was created to fill in the gaps that more often than not, breed misunderstanding among stakeholders: communication, coordination and cooperation. PCGLG serves as a sounding board for continuous dialogue of pending local governance bills in both Houses of Congress and review of the Local Government Code. It will also undertake research designed to guide the member institutions in coming up with reform initiatives and positions on critical issues.

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