The 2024 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) supports the effective implementation of the Mandanas ruling as it provides for the increased share in the taxes of local government units (LGUs).

Speaker Martin Romualdez, in his keynote message during the 2023 Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Seal of Good Local Governance Awards on Thursday, said the PHP5.768 trillion national budget ensures that LGUs have the resources they need for undertaking reforms, enabling them to further improve governance.

“We hope that the inclusion of this provision will encourage more local governments to endeavor to take on the challenge of attaining the Seal of Good Local Governance,” Romualdez said.

Romualdez said next year’s spending plan will be submitted for the approval of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after Congress’ ratification of the bicameral report.

“The House of Representatives crafted the 2024 budget 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,” he said.

Romualdez said his office is open to establishing an institutional mechanism that will enable and facilitate better coordination between the House of Representatives and LGUs.

“The House of Representatives is here to support all sectors, including local government officials, who desire to empower our fellow Filipinos so that they are able to pursue their ambitions,” he said.

In 2018, Batangas Governor Hermilando Mandanas and then Bataan congressman Enrique Garcia challenged the computation of the just share of the LGUs in the national taxes.

The landmark case strengthened financial decentralization where the LGUs have a just share of the tax collection of national government agencies.

Romualdez also commended the DILG for continuing the laudable program, the Seal of Good Local Governance Awards, which is a “welcome break” from the “ineffective punitive method” through which traditional public administration enforced compliance.

“With the Seal, the establishment of good governance has been incentivized, providing qualified local government units with the wherewithal by which more and better citizen-centric reforms may be pursued and sustained,” he said.

“Let us continue working together — inspiring each other to build a Philippine economy that is stronger and more inclusive. With everyone’s cooperation, I am confident we will reach our shared national aspirations in the very near.” (PNA)