LGUs expected to jump-start PH economy in’22

While with just a P1.25-billion growth equity fund (GEF) set aside for the poorest local government units (LGUs), the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) expects LGUs’ bigger budgets in 2022 to jump-start the transition to their bigger, devolved functions.

Despite the record P5.02-trillion 2022 national budget approved by President Duterte, the first-ever GEF approved was eight times smaller than the DBCC-proposed P10-billion funding. Militant legislators had flagged the GEF as “pork.”

“We defer to the wisdom of the Congress on this. However, as mentioned in the President’s veto message, the DBCC shall issue guidelines on the release and utilization of the GEF, pursuant to Executive Order No. 138. Rest assured that the DBCC will be releasing this soon,” Budget Undersecretary and spokesperson Rolando Toledo told the Inquirer on Tuesday.

Issued by President Duterte in June 2021, EO 138 transferred to LGUs the responsibility to spend on local infrastructure, agriculture, social welfare, health care and livelihood, among other sectors included in the Local Government Code, due to the implementation of the Supreme Court’s (SC) Mandanas-Garcia ruling this year which reduced the national government’s fiscal space. INQ