VICE presidential aspirant and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is pushing for stronger local autonomy to boost the potentials for the local government units in responding to a crisis.
Duterte-Carpio made the statement in her recent talk during the 2021 Regional Planning of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) at SMX Convention Center, Lanang, Davao City.
The mayor said a stronger local autonomy is a viable tool to harness the potential of the local government units in addressing situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I have personally seen the value and the benefits of strengthening local autonomy, especially now at the age of Covid-19. Our local government units need the financial stability and operational capacity to sufficiently respond to crisis without sacrificing funding for priority programs and projects. I join the League of Municipalities of the Philippines in the call to push for income reclassification of municipalities,” she said.
Following the implementation of the Mandanas Ruling that increases the share of the national government tax revenue transferred to local governments, Duterte-Carpio said the government must make sure that the implementation should be equitable so that no municipality, regardless of classification, is excluded from national government assistance.
She added that the implementation of the ruling should be rationalized to take into consideration the absorptive capacity of municipalities to adopt devolved functions and personnel.
“The increase in National Tax Allotment (NTA) can only truly effect meaningful change in our local government units if regulations on the utilization of the 20-percent development plan are liberalized, so as not to be prohibitive to priority programs and projects that will have the maximum impact on the welfare of our people," she said.
"The empowerment of local government units and especially financially challenged municipalities can only bode well for our country,” she added.
The Supreme Court ruled the Mandanas ruling expanding the local governments’ share in national taxes next year, expanding the local governments’ share in national taxes next year. The country will start implementing it in 2022.
Duterte-Carpio also emphasized that no municipality should be left behind as one municipality's success replicated to 1,400 municipalities across the archipelago will usher in an age of economic prosperity that is equitable and inclusive, resulting in the upliftment of our nation as a whole.
“We should leave no municipality behind in our national agenda for peace and progress. Today, this gathering tells us that local government units are coming together crossing political lines to pursue a common purpose, to build a stronger nation, so that the Filipino people may enjoy stability, security, and a prosperous way of life,” she said.
Duterte-Carpio, a local chief executive in the city for three non-consecutive terms, will be running for the second national highest post. Her running mate is Former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (With reports from CIO)