Patrick Ramos May 13, 2015

10-1758 Reaction Paper

The Local Government Code which was enacted on 1991 brought about various effects on
Philippine Society throughout its 26 years of existence. It was a step towards local autonomy for
local government units and strived to help the people become more active as well as enable the
government to respond better, quicker and more efficient to the demands of its constituents.
However, these are merely theoretical and mere visions that the legislators had in mind when they
enacted the code and the Constitution.
The article provides the writer with several points about the effects of the Local
Government Code on Philippine society. The writer will not go through every point but he will
tackle what he deems are the most important.
The writer believes that the beginning of the article; which provides for the definition of
decentralization and of the goals of decentralization, is not correct. One phrase that he mentioned
is that decentralization will reduce red-tape in government. The writer believes that the opposite
is true in the Philippine setting. Red-tape has become more rampant because the Code expressly
allows the local government units to set up their own processes and procedures in administrative
matters (licensing, payment of taxes etc.) The reason behind this disappointing truth is that red-
tape was rampant prior to the enactment of the Local Government Code. It was never fixed in the
events leading up to the decentralization of functions to the LGUs. Therefore, the writer believes
that this led the local government units to copy what the national agencies were doing. This led to
the red-tape system that existed in the LGUs. Although in the modern age, this is slowly being
fixed, it is still a long road ahead before red-tape is eliminated.
Another point the article mentions is political participation of the citizens in the
administration affairs of the government due to the enactment of the Code. It is important to note
that the concepts of referendum, plebiscite and recall are not unique nor exclusive to the Code. It
is vital to know that these concepts are enunciated in the 1987 Constitution. This means that people
already had the option, they were not only empowered in 1991 but they were already empowered
upon the enactment of the 1987 Constitution. The writer believes that the phrase greater
empowerment is not an appropriate phrase because the Code does not provide anything new to
something that was already with the people. It merely made it into a localized version of the
national version enunciated in the Constitution. There was no improvement, but merely re-
wording.
Additionally, to political participation is the point of inter-local cooperation stated in the
article. In this point, the writer agrees with the article. The inter-local cooperation of the different
officials must be maintained and further improved. These leagues which are established would
pave the way for a unified way of tackling recurring and similar problems for a number of local
governments. The establishment of leagues enable the public officials to help one another and copy
already successful strategies to implement as their own. This is made possible by the empowerment
made by the Code.
However, the supposed participation of the citizens in government affairs is hindered by
the lingering problem of political dynasties. The writer believes that the Code did not empower
local government units, but merely empowered the political dynasties. The proposed deregulation
of power given by the national government is now handled by the rich, wealthy and powerful in
their respective areas. The sad reality noted by the writer is that majority of these officials are not
concerned with helping their constituents, but as the article pointed out, are concerned with holding
on to their power. There is no proposed check nor solution to this problem in the modern day.
The writer also agrees with the article in the sense that he makes mention that a problem
of local government units is the financial capabilities of the respective governments. It is a well-
known fact that there are some local government units who are better off than their contemporaries.
The reason behind this is that the Code merely decentralized the powers and functions of the
national government without thinking of how to properly implement it. This left the various
provinces and cities to fend for themselves. It is as if the legislators assumed that all things were
equal to all the LGUs. The writer would like to express his opinion that the Code is essentially a
way for the national government officials to shift the burden and blame to the local government
officials. The decentralization of powers and functions came with the decentralization of the blame
and responsibility. This is something that is not readily seen by an ordinary Filipino unless he takes
a good look at the Code and analyze it with reality. The Code planted a stigma with the people that
if something awful were to happen to them in matters which the National government must handle,
they would blame the local government.
To add to the latter, point the writer made in the preceding paragraph, the Code also planted
a stigma in the mind of the local government officials that they can look up for help to the national
government. This stigma defeats the purpose of decentralization. If the local officials are in any
way dependent on their national counterparts, then what is the point of the Code? The writer does
not forgo the fact that there are matters which only the National Government can handle and these
are provided for in the Code itself. One example of this would be national security. However, in
other matters such as health and education and crisis response, the local government units are still
dependent on the national government.
The writer also agrees with the article that one problem of the Code is that it leaves the
financial capacities of the local governments on its own. Prior to the implementation of the Code
the legislators did not even think of how each area would produce their own revenue. Take for
example Quezon City versus Paombong Bulacan. The former is a city in the urban area while the
latter is in a rural area. Both governments are given the same amount of responsibilities, functions
and duties by the Code however it is undisputed that Quezon City is better off than Paombong.
The reason being is that Quezon City is more capable of generating revenue on its own due to its
location and the number of establishments, investments made within its territory. The writer admits
that there is nothing one can do with geography, but he believes that the legislators should have
made sure that each local government would have the capability to generate revenue before
granting them the authority to do so. This could have easily been avoided if prior to the Code, the
national government would start decentralizing the focus of investments and establishments from
NCR to other areas of the country. But, it is disappointing to note that this was not done. Therefore,
what is currently happening is that we have a big discrepancy between the capability of various
local government units from one another in terms of revenue generation.
In relation to the revenue generation, the writer also wants to express his opinion that the
Code was rushed and was prematurely enacted. The reason for this statement is the lack of
capability to carry out the functions and responsibilities given by the Code. The article notes that
the local governments now have functions such as providing health to its constituents. However,
the question remains: can they provide this service? This question is vital because even if they are
obliged to give this service, they are unable to render it effectively. This spurts the growth of that
local government and of its corresponding city or municipality. This is why the writer of this paper
that the Local Government could have made the governments take a step back towards progress
rather than towards it. The writer believes that the Code is prematurely enacted and forcibly
imposed on the society which led to more problems than it solved.
In connection to the incapability of the service rendered by an LGU, it is vital to note that
in the Code, there are overlapping functions between either the local government unit themselves
or between the local and national government. The writer notes that a single service can be
performed by various government units. This again clearly shows that the Code was prematurely
enacted without sufficient research or preparation. The overlapping of functions would lead to
inefficiency because the Filipino who needs the public service does not know which government
unit he should go to seek redress.
Another reaction the writer has is that he agrees with the article that there is big discrepancy
between the people working in the national government as opposed to those working n local
governments. The writer believes that a big reason behind this occurrence is due to the fact that
there is a better opportunity in the national government. The income received by the Filipino is
much higher if he were to work in the national government as opposed to a local government. This
is a sad reality which the country must address. The public service which is aimed to be
decentralized by the Code cannot be effectively given due to lack of man power. The lack of man
power cannot be addressed if the income being offered by the local government units is low. The
low income cannot be addressed if the local government cannot generate more revenue for itself.
The article mentions that poverty is still rampant in the country. This is one reason why poverty
still exists. The poor regions are left to fend for themselves while the already rich areas become
richer and more powerful due to the Code. What is worse as mentioned in the article is that the
local governments are dependent on their share in the internal revenue allotment given by the
national government. This dependency financially runs counter to the purpose of the local
government code which is local autonomy.
In conclusion, the writer feels that the Code must be amended. There are still many local
government units which are not capable nor ready to handle the freedom and responsibility given
to them by the Code. The public service which are to be rendered by a local government must be
at the very least limited to those that they can do efficiently. The writer is not completely skeptic
to the Code but he does believe that it must be tailor-fitted to the current events. The law is not a
successful if even one area is not able to do its functions properly due to financial constraints or
any other constraints for that matter.
The writer does not dispute what the articles states when it mentions that there is a greater
participation by the people in public affairs and a quicker response by the government due to the
enactment of the Code. He believes that decentralization is a good way towards good governance.
However, it is with the implementation of the objective which is the problem area. It is by proper
designation of functions and the giving of adequate opportunities to raise revenue where the local
governments can truly be called autonomous.