Kabataan party-list representative Raoul Manuel raised concerns on Thursday regarding the proposed budget of P30 million for the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) allocated for ‘decentralization and constitutional reform.’
“This P30 million is for decentralization and constitutional reform. For decentralization to happen, kailangan po natin baguhin ang Constitution. Does this mean that Charter change is a priority of this administration?,” Manuel asked during the discussions about the DILG’s proposed budget of P262 billion for the year 2024 in front of the House appropriations panel.
DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos and DILG Undersecretary Marlo Iringan clarified that the budget in question would not be used to advocate for Charter change. Instead, it is intended to support local government units (LGUs) in implementing the Mandanas ruling, which provides LGUs with increased authority to carry out projects.
“The law [provided by the SC decision in 2018] has many flaws. For one, it says a barangay should be able to build a barangay road, but not all barangays can afford to do that. Secondly, it states every province should have tertiary hospitals, and not all provinces have resources for that,” Abalos said.
DILG proposes P30-M ‘decentralization budget’
“Although the title [of the budget item] ay hindi angkop ng kaunti, ito po (P30 million) ay parte ng pag-aaral namin at ng ibang attached agencies ng DILG para po rito [sa implementation ng Mandanas ruling],” Abalos added.
DILG Undersecretary Iringan reiterated the stance of Secretary Abalos, making it clear that the DILG has no intention of pursuing charter change.
“There is no push for constitutional reform. What we are focusing on right now is devolution in light of the Supreme Court ruling in 2018. This is part of the DILG’s efforts to capacitate LGUs to absorb functions and services as provided under Section 17 of the Local Government Code of 1991,” Iringan said.
“What we want is to provide capacity development intervention for our LGUs [to comply with the Mandanas ruling], as well as activities and studies for amendments of the Local Government Code since it has been 32 years and there has not been no amendment to the Code’s provision,” Iringan added.
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