Marcos to sign EO clarifying Duterte’s devolution order

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said he will be signing a new policy this year that would amend his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte’s executive order (EO) on the devolution of certain functions to local government units (LGUs).

Marcos announced during the first-ever Local Government Summit 2024 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City that he will amend EO No. 138 signed by Duterte in 2021.

“This year, we also target to issue the [order] amending Executive Order No. 138, s. 2021, with clearer parameters on the functions, services, and facilities that are to be devolved,” Marcos said in his speech.

Marcos said that once the parameters are clearly defined, local governments will have greater capability to implement and localize the Sustainable Development Goals.

“We have been working on this for a good long while and I think we have found a formula wherein we divide the funding according to the way that we determine services belong to — as a responsibility to the national government, other services belong to the local government,” Marcos said.

“In that way, we are able to satisfy the needs as best as we can for both the national government and most importantly for the local government as the Mandanas ruling really directs itself towards the improvement in the local government situation,” he added.

The Mandanas vs. Garcia ruling by the Supreme Court stated that the just share of LGUs from the national taxes is not limited to the national internal revenue taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue but includes collections by the Bureau of Customs, significantly increasing the tax base in which the share of the LGUs is computed from, thus strengthening fiscal decentralization.

EO 138 provides for the full devolution of certain functions of the executive branch of the government — including implementation of local infrastructure projects — to LGUs.

Marcos previously said the EO “looks okay” on paper but will cause a decrease in funds to the local government executives.

READ: Marcos reviewing devolution order