The province of Bohol was tapped as the site for the trial devolution of the functions formerly handled by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in preparation for the implementation of the Mandanas ruling, which ordered the increasing of the just share of local governments in the revenues collected by the national government starting in 2022, according to a report released on Wednesday, June 23, 2021.
Agriculture Sec. William Dar revealed the trial of the local government takeover of DA functions will come in the form of the Province-led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Systems (PAFES) program where the Central Visayas province was chosen as a “model”.
The national government is now seeking to shed off some of its functions and letting the local governments take over these services in response to the Mandanas ruling. The ruling provides more funds at the disposal of the local governments. These local governments are expected to absorb some of the functions of the national government agencies considering the former will receive additional internal revenue allotments (IRA) starting next year.
Dar said in a statement released on June 22, 2021, he wants more local government units (LGU) investing more in fishery and agriculture to produce traditional and emerging products that enjoy competitive advantage.
The DA, quoting the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), said the LGUs IRA will increase from P 234.4 billion to P1.8 trillion.
Dar also sent a draft executive order to Malacañang seeking to institutionalize the PAFES.
“With the additional IRA, LGUs could implement the PAFES in partnership with the DA, to significantly boost the delivery of devolved functions and better perform their role as the country’s food security czars,” Dar said.
Dar cited Gov. Arthur Yap for the latter’s initiative to align the province’s programs with DA’s own plans.
Reports say that Bohol has allotted P588.8 million for programs to cover the production of rice, corn, root crops, coconut, milkfish, tilapia, seaweeds, dairy, native chicken, swine, and farm-to-market roads.
DA is set to approve Yap’s request for an additional P976 million for farm and fishery projects, and P1.4 billion for farm-to-market roads, according to Dar.
“Agriculture is too important to be left alone with the DA. The DA must only do the steering. LGUs must do the rowing so that the provinces will be food secure. There must be a sense of partnership that must be nurtured between DA and the LGUs,” Dar said in the same statement.