Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman (Screenshot from YouTube live)

Independent minority solon Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman says the "full implementation" of the 2018 Garcia-Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) is key in the pursuit of a federal Philippines. 

Lagman brought this up Saturday, Aug. 26, following remarks by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. that the country had taken the "first step of the federal government, in all but name". 

"The shift to federalism shall remain a gratuitous soundbite so long as most local government units (LGUs) are destitute of fiscal autonomy," said the veteran legislator and former House Minority Leader. 

"Any talk on federalism must first be geared towards the full implementation of the Garcia-Mandanas Supreme Court ruling which granted LGUs their belated rightful share in customs and tariff revenues," he said.

"Unfortunately, Executive Order (EO) No.138 of former president Rodrigo Duterte sequestered the bonanza to LGUs by mandating that devolved services like the construction of irrigation systems and school buildings must be funded from the LGUs’ additional revenues, many of which do not have the capacity and funds to undertake the devolved projects and programs," he said, referring Marcos' direct predecessor.

"It is well that President Marcos partially suspended the implementation of EO 138, but more than a temporary suspension, it must be repealed or abrogated to afford the LGUs the full discretion on the utilization of their funds consistent with the allocation ratio provided for in the Local Government Code," Lagman said. 

The Mandanas-Garcia ruling resulted from the petition made by Batangas Governor Hermilando Mandanas and former Bataan Governor Enrique Garcia Jr. before the SC on local government shares on internal revenue allotment (IRA). According to the petitioners, LGU shares should include all national taxes. 

Lagman said that, as it stands, only four regions have the capacity to operate in a federal system. These are Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, and Metro Cebu.

"Federalism will waylay the development and progress of the other regions," he said. 

At any rate, the Liberal Party (LP) president said he was "open to discuss federalism, which needs charter change (Cha-Cha)".