Malacañang said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) would propose the necessary policy recommendations to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in two months -- the time when the study on Executive Order (EO) No. 138 is expected to be completed. Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said this after Marcos ordered government agencies to study the said EO for possible amendments and to determine what national government functions should be devolved to local government units (LGUs) due to the Supreme Court's Mandanas Ruling. "After the completion of the study, the DBM will propose the necessary policy recommendations for the Chief Executive 'to issue and to serve as guidance of the local governments and the national government agencies in the implementation of the full devolution effort,'" she said. In a news forum, DBM Director John Aries Macaspac said Marcos ordered the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to study the implementation of this full devolution further, considering the overall capacities of LGUs and the functions and services that the national government should retain. "So these are basically those that cannot really be implemented by the local government units, taking into consideration their technical and financial capacity, and then we will also identify those that could already be implemented by the local governments," Macaspac said. "And the local government units, as well as the national government agencies concerned, will be duly informed, capacitated and, well, informed of these policy directives for the full, efficient and effective implementation of this full devolution effort of the government," he added. While the study is ongoing, Macaspac said the national government would continue to provide the needed support to LGUs, particularly in the capacity-building programs and interventions and financial assistance in the form of the local government support fund and those that several national government agencies are providing. According to Macaspac, the full devolution effort of the government is a measure being implemented to cushion or mitigate the fiscal impact of the Supreme Court ruling on the Mandanas-Garcia case. He added that the DBM and its partner agencies, particularly the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), will issue the corresponding implementing guidelines. The Duterte administration issued EO 138, s. 2021 to support the efficient implementation of the SC ruling on the Mandanas-Garcia case and strengthen the autonomy and empowerment of LGUs. It directs the full devolution of certain functions of the Executive Branch to the LGUs and creates a Committee on Devolution to monitor the implementation of the EO. The SC ruled in 2018 that the just share of LGUs from the national taxes is not limited to "national internal revenue taxes" collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and other tax-collecting agencies. Under the Mandanas ruling, the national government is mandated to expand the share of LGUs in tax collection. On the other hand, LGUs must handle the responsibility of operating social services like agriculture, connectivity, and health within their jurisdictions. Last week, President Marcos said his order to review the previous administration's EO 138 was [not an alternative](https://mb.com.ph/2023/3/22/marcos-eo-138-review-not-an-alternative-to-proposed-charter-change) to the proposed charter change in Congress but an effort to ensure that the devolution of national government functions would be fair.