Bongbong Marcos says new EO on Mandanas ruling out by year-end

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — MALACAÑANG PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday said he aims to release the new executive order on the implementation of the Mandanas ruling by the end of the year.

The new order, he said, would clearly delineate the roles of the national and local governments as opposed to the Mandanas ruling, which he suspended for one year.

“We postponed the implementation for a year, for one year and the reason we did this is that doon sa ginawang EO sa nakaraang administrasyon, hindi maliwanag ang sharing, hindi maliwanag ang devolution of functions. And when you do the numbers, ‘pag talagang tiningnan mo lalong-lalo na sa fourth, fifth, sixth class, lugi pa sila,” Marcos said in his speech at the 4th General Assembly of the League of Provinces of the Philippines in Clark, Pampanga.

(In the EO issued in the previous administration, the sharing and devolution of functions to the local governments are not clear.)

The suspended EO also directs the full devolution of certain functions of the executive branch to the LGUs.

“We gave ourselves until the end of the year 2023 – until the end of this year. And I will sign another executive order putting into place all – and defining very clearly which of the services, which of the functions belong to the local government and which belong to the national government,” Marcos said.

He was referring to the increase of internal revenue allotment (IRA) from the national government to localities under the ruling.

“It does not mean na walang made-devolve. Mayroong mga made-devolve na function. Pero ang kaibahan dito, ‘yung pag-devolve ng function may kasabay na item, may kasabay na funding, may kasabay na training. So, we are trying to get around that,” the President added.

He also assured the local officials that they will continue to have an exchange of ideas and see the practical considerations.

“That is what we are trying to calibrate now – how do we do that so that the local governments are able to perform their functions and are able to provide the services to their constituents that are expected and that are mandated by the Local Government Code,” Marcos said.

Marcos expressed confidence that the local government officials will be able to perform well as they know the real situation in their respective jurisdictions.

Under the Mandanas ruling, local governments are entitled to a bigger share of the Philippines’ annual revenue after the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the computation of the IRA should include collections from local Customs offices and other tax-collecting agencies.

Local government units previously got their internal revenue allotment from 40 percent of the national internal revenue taxes gotten by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

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JPV