Philippines
Metro Manila
Biazon welcomes Marcos' initiative to strengthen LGU capacity
Biazon welcomes Marcos' initiative to strengthen LGU capacity
Muntinlupa Mayor Ruffy Biazon welcomed the launch of the “Sa Bagong Pilipinas, Bawat Bayan Makikinabang” initiative by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that aims to strengthen the capacity of local government units (LGUs) through an increase in fund support.
Under the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF), the national government increased the allocation to P58 billion, an increase by P34 billion, the highest in the fund’s history.
Biazon joined other local chief executives such as governors and municipal and city mayors to meet Marcos in Malacañang Palace for the launch of the initiative on Feb. 23.
Calling it a “historic event,” Biazon said the LGSF is part of the President’s direction to speed up the implementation of programs by reducing the channels for the release of funds.
“Sa ganitong paraan, mas magiging relevant sa mga pangangailangan ng grassroots dahil local government units naman ang mga frontliners (This way, it will be more relevant to the needs of the grassroots because the frontliners are local government units),” said Biazon.
Under the LGSF’s first component, he said, Marcos will release funds to provide 60 kilos of rice every year for the 130,000 households in Muntinlupa.
In the second component, the President will allot P83 million for an infrastructure project proposed by the Muntinlupa City government.
Biazon said the fund will be used for an active mobility and sports/multipurpose infrastructure.
During the Malacañang event, the Department of Education and LGus signed a memorandum of agreement for the Annual Schoolbuilding Program in which DepEd will release funds to LGUs for the construction of school buildings to reduce the backlog in classrooms.
“Sa mensahe ng Pangulo sa mga Local Chief Executives, na naniniwala siya na may kakayahan ang mga LGUs na gawin ang proyekto dahil nagpapatupad naman na talaga ng mga infrastructure projects ang mga lokal na pamahalaan (In the President's message to the Local Chief Executives, he believed that the LGUs have the capacity to do the project because local governments are already implementing infrastructure projects),” added Biazon.
He said, “Ang bilin niya ay gawin ang mga proyekto sa tamang pamamaraan, sa tamang halaga at tamang kalidad. Inaasahan niya na sa pagpapalakas ng mga LGU, maipapakita na ang pamahalaan ay responsive, responsible at reliable. Malaking hamon ito sa mga mga governors at mayors (His order was to do the projects in the right way, at the right cost and with the right quality. He hoped that by strengthening the LGUs, the government would be shown to be responsive, responsible and reliable. This is a big challenge for the governors and mayors).”
