A pot of gold for winning local candidates
The boiling political cauldron is now sizzling with the start of the campaign period for local candidates.
There are 46,120 candidates who are vying for 18,023 local positions for governor, vice governor, provincial board member, congression-al district representative, mayor, vice mayor, and councilors in different cities and municipalities across the country.
Choosing the right persons for the 18,023 local positions is crucial in these elections.
As what has been widely reported, local government units will start receiving their manna courtesy of the imple-mentation of the Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court way back in 2018.
Under the ruling, the share that the local government units (LGUs) are receiving from tax collections of the national gov-ernment will increase since LGUs are supposed to receive a share in customs duties, excise taxes, VAT and documentary stamp taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs.
In 2022, the internal revenue allotment of LGUs reached to P1.083 trillion.
This is 21% more than the entire government budget and P387.51 billion higher compared to the P695.49 billion total IRA in 2021. Bohol LGUs will certainly have their share of increase in IRA.
With the bigger amounts allotted for LGUs come bigger responsibilities for our local leaders.
As the implementation of the Mandanas ruling starts this year, the national government’s finan-cial capacity for big capital expenditure projects has been significantly reduced.
Thus, President Rodrigo Duterte was compelled to implement the fill devolution of basic services and facilities from the national government to the LGUs this year.
The World Bankwelcomes this development as it expresses optimism that the implementation of the Mandanas Ruling is not just as a transfer of resources but an opportunity to strengthen decen-tralization and improve social service delivery in the Philippines.
Local governments are on the ground and can directly feel citizen’s needs and aspirations. Hence, decentralization encourages prompt responses and better matching of govern-ment services to local needs, making governance more inclusive. This is especially true if citizens have effective channels through which their voic-es are heard to enhance accountability. (world-bank.org)
In the hands of an LGU that has the experience and capacity to successfully implement local pro-jects, people will certainly be able to partake in this bounty But not all LGUs are created equal. There are LGUs that are lorded over by political dynasties while others are unfortunate to be ruled by corrupt leaders.
It is, therefore, imperative for the electorates to elect not just honest leaders, but leaders who have the vision and leadership capacity to transform their respective cities or municipalities into places we can proudly call our home.
By. Atty. Gregorio B. Austral, CPA