Vice Governor Rene Lopez Relampagos and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) are all set to approve the Provincial Government of Bohol’s (PGBh) Devolution Transition Plan (DTP) after it was thoroughly discussed and approved in the Committee of the Whole level. The said committee is headed by Relampagos himself.
The committee approved the DTP on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, according to reports.
The PGBh’s DTP is said to be the first of its kind in Region VII, the vice governor said in a radio interview on Nov. 17, 2021 aired over dyTR’s Open Forum program hosted by Ardy Araneta-Batoy and Dave Albarado.
Pursuant to Executive Order No. 138 issued by Malacañang, the DTP for 2022-2024 was required under the Mandanas-Garcia ruling wherein local government units (LGU) will receive a just share in the national taxes. This paves the way for all LGU to assume some responsibilities and functions of the national agencies to be implemented starting in 2022.
The devolved functions shall be performed by LGUs and will be funded by the national tax allocations (NTA), previously known as the internal revenue allotment (IRA).
To shed light on the matter, the Provincial Planning and Development Officer, John Titus Vistal, presented to the august body the highlights of the devolved functions.
According to Vistal, the offices that have assumed devolved functions from the national government are divided into sectors, namely: the Economic Development Sector, Social Development Sector, Infrastructure Developments Sector, and the Environment and Management Sector.
Under the Economic Development Sector are the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist and Office of the Provincial Veterinarian which will be absorbing functions from the Department of Agriculture; the Bohol Investment Promotion Center which will be assuming the functions from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); and the Bohol Tourism Office from Department of Tourism (DOT).
Under the Social Development Sector are the agencies of the Provincial Health Office which will be absorbing the additional devolved functions from Department of Health (DOH) and Office of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development which will be absorbing functions from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
For infrastructure developments, the Provincial Engineering Office will get some of the devolved functions from Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) because the latter has retained most of its functions; and the Bohol Information and Communication Technology Unit from Department of Information and Communications Technology or DICT.
Moreover, under the Environment and Management Sector is the Bohol Environment and Management Office which will be absorbing additional functions from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Furthermore, Vistal clarified that not all national government agencies (NGA) are expected to devolve their functions to the LGUs.
Vistal also emphasized that Bohol is the only province in Region VII that has completed its DTP way ahead of other provinces in the region. The PGBh has already absorbed much of the devolved functions of some NGA way back the term of Relampagos as governor of the province.
For his part, Relampagos thanked and congratulated the PGBh’s team for having completed the plan and is pleased that Bohol has always been ahead compared to other LGUs in terms of governance.
“Based on the presentation, we could see already that even without the Mandanas ruling which paved the way for the devolution of functions, we could see that Bohol has been leading the way in doing more than what is expected. “Ato ni nahimo tungod kay ang atong probinsya minglampos sa pagpahiluna nga ang Bohol maka baton ug ‘Vision, Mission, and Goal’ diin aron kini ma operational ug ma-realized, nag kinahanglan ta ug offices nga maoy mopahiluna aning maong panglantaw aron kahatagan ug maayong kaugmaon ang Bohol,” Relampagos said.