PAGBABAGO
It will be remembered that the Supreme Court in 2022 had mandated the allocation of 40 percent of national taxes to local government as per the Mandanas-Garcia ruling. This fund will benefit 1,493 municipalities, 149 cities, and 42,045 barangays.
Because the LGUs had been assured of these additional dividends, most of them had already started with reforms that include “good governance and transparency; sustainable development; empowerment of communities to achieve inclusive governance, economic growth through entrepreneurship initiatives, innovations, job creation; and improved delivery of public services in healthcare, education, and infrastructure development.” Several local governments now collaborate with organizations in providing training on good governance to promote transparency and accountability.
When we think about the most serious challenges facing our people in 2025, they are primarily that of food security, employment, sustainability of their resources, and re-training and upskilling of our people so that they may be able to contribute to overall productivity. Many of them will need effective linkages with central government and their colleagues.
Among other requirements will be opportunities for improving productivity of their farmers and fisherfolk, and the labor force. To better appreciate the importance of strengthening productivity of our human resources at the community level, statistics show that a large percentage of decision-makers and the workforce originally came from communities governed by local government.
Many of our micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) represent which 99.6 percent of the total establishments in the country are primarily located in local communities.
Local governments are tasked by the 1991 Local Government Code to deliver most of the services in health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, social development, and environment. Still their performance is limited by lack of training and resources.
Hopefully, they will be assisted by non-government agencies and other sectors of society including community journalists. Furthermore, we hope that the 40 percent allocation will continue even with changes in the administration.
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