Duterte orders transfer of some national gov’t functions to LGUs

 President Rodrigo Duterte  (Photo from an RTVM video posted on Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has signed an executive order transferring some executive functions to local government units.

Under Executive Order No. 38, the President ordered all department secretaries and agency heads to review their respective mandates guided by the following principles:

-Public services with little or no benefit spillover are best administered and financed by lower-level governments

-The provision of public goods and services that involve economies of scale is best assigned to higher levels of government

-Functions related to the redistributive role of government should be best assigned to the national government

“With the full devolution of the provision of basic services and facilities to LGUs, the national government agencies can assume more strategic and steering functions to address persistent development issues,” Duterte said in the order.

The functions, services, and facilities to be fully devolved from the national government to the LGUs no later than the fiscal year 2024 include those under the Local Government Code, the order read.

The national government agencies and all LGUs must prepare their respective devolution transition plans and submit them to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) within 120 days from the effectivity of the order.

The order also creates a Committee on Devolution, which shall be chaired by the DBM and co-chaired by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), to monitor the implementation of decentralization, resolve issues and concerns, develop strong communication plans to inform the public, issue rules, and regulations, and submit an annual report to the Office of the President.

The committee shall also propose a growth equity fund to Congress to address marginalization, unequal development, high poverty incidence, and disparities in the fiscal capacities of LGUs by 2022, the order read.

READ: Duterte EO transferring national gov’t functions to LGUs out this year

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