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Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez has sought a House probe on the “misalignment” in the National Tax Allotments (NTAs) of local government units and the funding requirements for full devolution of specific national public services.

Local government units (LGUs) should optimize their increased budgets from the Mandanas-ruling in setting up plans on capital investments to address basic and growing needs of their constituents, the Cabinet official said.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has formed a team that will look into issues arising from the implementation of the Supreme Court’s Mandanas-Garcia ruling.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said that the implementation of big-ticket infrastructure projects should remain under the national government despite the Mandanas ruling.

Former senator and incumbent Sorsogon Governor Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Sunday urged local government units (LGUs) not to depend too much on the additional P234-billion in Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) expected this year as the national government complies with the Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) broke ground for a P1.3-billion irrigation project in Pangasinan which could help the irrigation of nearly 2,000 hectares of farmlands.

The implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling may likely drag down the country’s economic recovery due to less efficient spending by local government units (LGUs), the Department of Finance (DOF) warned.

Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Wednesday, Nov. 10 said it is high time that the government devolve its procuremnet of supplies and implementation of projects to the local government units (LGUs) as national agencies have shown bad procurement decisions, including the transfer of P42-billion to the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (DBM-PS).

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help local governments in improving their capacity to provide high-quality public services, especially during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) wants to make sure that the provision of agriculture extension services in the province will continue amid the implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling, which may result in a lesser national budget for the farm sector.

Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) recommended against the proposal to mandate local government units (LGUs) to allot 10 percent of their internal revenue allotment (IRA) to the agriculture sector starting next year.

The Philippine government is urged to invest further in municipal fisheries and improve the capabilities of small fishermen so they can help increase the country’s fisheries production.

The World Bank has expressed fear that the forthcoming transfer of some national government’s responsibilities to local executives may hamper the delivery of basic services to the public.

Another group has called on local government units (LGUs) to set aside more budget for the agriculture sector in anticipation of the full implementation of Mandanas-Garcia ruling, which will increase their fund allocation.

The impending implementation of the so-called “Mandanas-Garcia ruling” will result to the rollout of more agriculture and fishery programs at the local government unit (LGU) level, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.