LGUs receive bigger chunk of 2024 budget
My office is open to establishing an institutional mechanism that will enable and facilitate better coordination between the House of Representatives and local government units
Photograph Courtesy of DILG
Daily TribuneMy office is open to establishing an institutional mechanism that will enable and facilitate better coordination between the House of Representatives and local government units
Photograph Courtesy of DILG
The Marcos administration's proposed P5.768 trillion budget for 2024 will provide local government units with a bigger chunk of the expenditure in the pursuit of delivering more services to the public.
Speaker Martin Romualdez announced this Thursday during the awarding of the Seal of Good Local Governance to outstanding LGUs at the Manila Hotel, attended by roughly 1,000 local and national officials.
The 2024 budget, which Congress ratified earlier this week, is set to be signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the coming days, according to Romualdez.
The proposed national expenditure for next year is P500 billion higher than this year's trillion spending program — the highest in history approved by Congress.
The national budget for fiscal year 2024, Romualdez said, "contains provisions for the effective implementation of the Mandanas ruling, ensuring that local governments have the resources at the local level. We hope that the inclusion of these provisions will encourage more LGUs to endeavor to take on the challenge of attaining the Seal of Good Local Governance."
Under the Supreme Court's Mandanas ruling in 2018, the just share of LGUs is determined based not only on the national internal revenue taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, but also on all national taxes.
The verdict significantly increased the share of LGUs from national revenues.
Back in May, Marcos vowed that he would come up with a new executive order on the implementation of the Mandanas ruling to further strengthen the coordination and partnership between the local and the national government.
The new EO, he said, will be out by year-end.
The 2024 national budget, according to Romualdez, was crafted "to bring about balanced development, propagating progress not just in urban areas but across the archipelago, so that every Filipino, from the northernmost provinces to the southernmost islands, can thrive with peace and abundance."
The House chief added that the crucial measure outlines the funds for infrastructure projects, educational reforms, healthcare improvements, business development, and agricultural support.
"My office is open to establishing an institutional mechanism that will enable and facilitate better coordination between the House of Representatives and local government units," he said.
The bicameral panel, composed of members of the House and the Senate, reconciled the disagreeing version of the 2024 General Appropriations Bill on Monday, paving the way for the approval of the final version of the national spending budget for next year.
On the same day, both the Senate and House ratified the bicam report.