PROBLEMS IN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

A TERM PAPER

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF PERPETUAL HELP SYSTEM

LAGUNA IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS IN POLITICAL
SCIENCE

SISON, YOLANDA C.
1ST SEMESTER

I3P

OCTOBER 12, 2012

I. MEANING OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Local government is a form of public administration which in a majority of

contexts, exists as the lowest tier of administration within a given state. The term is used
to contrast with offices at state level, which are referred to as the central
government, national government, or (where appropriate) federal government. Local
governments generally act within powers delegated to them by legislation or directives of
the higher level of government. In primitive societies the lowest level of local
government is the village headman or tribal chief. Federal states such as the United States
have two levels of government above the local level: the governments of the fifty states
and the federal national government whose relations are governed by the Constitution of
the United States. Local government in the United States originated in the colonial period
and has been modified since then: the highest level of local government is at county level.

The institutions of local government vary greatly between countries, and even
where similar arrangements exist, the terminology often varies. Common names for local
government entities include state, province, region, department, county, prefecture,
district, city, township, town, borough, parish,municipality, shire and village.

II. IMPORTRANCE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

 Local affairs can best be regulated by the people in the locality rather than by the
central authority.

 Local governments constitute the foundation of the entire structure of the

government.

 The acts of the local government units affect the ordinary citizen more directly
than those of the national government.

 The average citizen has more and closer contacts with the local governments and
their agencies than with the national or provincial government, and is more
concerned with the local affairs than with those of the national or provincial in
scope.

 It generates and maximizes the use of resources and revenues for the development
plans, programme objectives and priorities of a province with particular attention
to agro-industrial development and country-wide growth and progress.
III. TERRITORIAL AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS OF THE PHILIPPINES

Article X (Local Government), Section 1 of the Philippine Constitution 1987:

“The territorial and political subdivisions of the Republic of the

Philippines are the provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays.
There shall be autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the
Cordilleras as hereinafter provided.”

 Provinces
Outside the lone autonomous region, the provinces are the highest-level LGUs.
The provinces are organized into component cities and municipalities. A province is
governed by the governor; its legislature is the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

 Cities
Cities are of somewhat complex matter; most cities are component cities in which
they are a part of a province. Several other cities are highly urbanized cities and
independent component cities, these cities are not politically a part of any province, hence
city residents are not allowed to run for provincial offices. Cities are composed of
barangays.

A city is governed by the mayor; its legislature is the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

 Municipalities
Municipalities are always a part of a province except for Pateros which was
separated from Rizal to form Metro Manila. Just as cities, municipalities are composed of
barangays. A municipality is governed by the mayor; its legislature is the Sangguniang
Bayan.

 Barangays
Barangays are the smallest-level but an independent body of a Local Government
Unit (LGU). Its manner of creation and function is prescribed by the Local Government
Code of 1991. Barangays are informally divided into sitios and puroks. The center of
governance both for executive and legislative function is the barangay hall.
A barangay is governed by the Punong Barangay or barangay captain; its
legislature is the Sangguniang Barangay composed of Barangay Kagawad (barangay
 councilors) and the SK chairperson. A separate assembly for the youth sector,
the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) also exists for youth-oriented projects.

IV. DUAL STATUS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

 Local Autonomy

Autonomous regions have more powers than other LGUs. Currently, the
constitution limits the creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the
Cordilleras. Other regions are not considered LGUs since they do not have political
power.

Currently, only one autonomous region exists: the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM). In 2001, a plebiscite confirmed the previous composition of the
autonomous region, and added Basilan except the city of Isabela, and Marawi in Lanao
del Sur within its jurisdiction; however Isabela City is still politically a part of Basilan
despite rejecting inclusion.

A 1998 plebiscite for the creation of a "Cordillera Autonomous Region" was only
approved by the voters of Ifugao; as a result, the Supreme Court (Ordillo vs. Comelec;
G.R. No. 93054) ruled that a region must be composed of more than one province. The
proposed Cordillera Autonomous Region never came to be and the provinces were
reorganized into the Cordillera Administrative Region without the expanded powers of an
autonomous region. An autonomous region is governed by the regional governor; its
legislature is the regional legislative assembly.

 DECENTRALIZATION

Decentralization is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the

people and/or citizens. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or
areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy, sociology,
andeconomics. Decentralization is also possible in the dispersal of population and
employment. Law, science and technological advancements lead to highly decentralized human
endeavours.
 3 Components of Decentralization in the Philippines

1. Political decentralization

Political decentralization aims to give citizens or their elected representatives

more power in public decision-making. It is often associated with pluralistic politics and
representative government, but it can also support democratization by giving citizens, or their
representatives, more influence in the formulation and implementation of policies. Advocates
of political decentralization assume that decisions made with greater participation will be
better informed and more relevant to diverse interests in society than those made only by
national political authorities. The concept implies that the selection of representatives from
local electoral constituency allows citizens to know better their political representatives and
allows elected officials to know better the needs and desires of their constituents. Political
decentralization often requires constitutional or statutory reforms, creation of local political
units, and the encouragement of effective public interest groups.

2. Fiscal decentralization

Dispersal of financial responsibility is a core component. If local governments and private

organizations are to carry out decentralized functions effectively, they must have an adequate
level of revenues, either raised locally or transferred from the central government, as well as
the authority to make decisions about expenditures. Fiscal decentralization can take many
forms, including the following:

 Self-financing or cost recovery through user charges,

 Co-financing or co-production arrangements through which the users participate in `
providing services and infrastructure through monetary or labor contributions;
 Expansion of local revenues through property or sales taxes or indirect charges;
 Intergovernmental transfers that shift general revenues from taxes collected by the central
government to local governments for general or specific uses; and
 Authorization of municipal borrowing and the mobilization of either national or local
government resources through loan guarantees.
 In many developing and emerging market economies local governments or administrative
units possess the legal authority to impose taxes, but the tax base is so weak and the
dependence on central government subsidies so ingrained that no attempt is made to exercise
that authority.

3. Economic decentralization

Privatization and deregulation shift responsibility for functions from the public to
the private sector and is another type of decentralization. Privatization and deregulation are
usually, but not always, accompanied by economic liberalization and market development
policies. They allow functions that had been primarily or exclusively the responsibility of
government to be carried out by businesses, community groups, cooperatives, private voluntary
associations, and other non-government organizations. Democratization however involves either
state or private enterprises being transferred to employee-ownership and democratic control in
the form of worker self-management, usually in the form of cooperatives and mutual businesses.

V. PERCIEVED PROBLEM

One of the problems of the Local Government Units of our country includes lack
of communication to the National Government and so the system of processing the
remedies to certain problems in some places takes months or years to be resolved, same
with the cases during calamities, complains and problems in shortage of relief goods for
flood victims takes few days before acknowledged by our National Government and
another few days of waiting before the goods reached the victims.

VI. SUGGESTION

The National Government shall establish offices that will help the local
government units for better communication process and for faster service during
calamities and other events.