CRDC sets program for accountability of LGUs

By Marlo Lubguban

BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Regional Development Council’s development administration committee is set to hold webinars to prepare local government units at the provincial, municipal, and barangay levels for their increased budgets in 2022 and boost accountability and transparency of LGUs.
    The committee presented this as its banner program for 2021 during its meeting on Feb. 10.
    The webinars aim to make LGUs to properly manage revenue allotments resulting from the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling on a petition led by then Reo. Hermilando Mandanas and its subsequent legislation filed by Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.
    The webinar series will be held with limited face-to-face interaction among participants.
    The lectures will include project planning, investment programming, monitoring and evaluation, and information dissemination.
    Adonis Bringas of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (PAPRU), said LGUs must also take into account the priority PPAs under the National Task Force to Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) program.
    With ending the local communist armed conflict as a priority of the current administration, Bringas said LGUs, especially those cleared of subversive activities, must ensure that PPAs geared towards the socio-economic development of these areas and communities are implemented.
    PDEA-CAR director Gil Castro said drug prevention and rehabilitation is the banner program of the administration so related PPAs must also be prioritized.
    The DevAd committee will form a technical working group to plan the webinars based on training needs of the LGUs.
    Cordillera director Helen Tibaldo of the Philippine Information Agency said information dissemination among citizens is key to ensuring people’s participation and accountability of officials and should also be a focus of the committee’s activities.
    The Mandanas ruling refers to the July 2018 Supreme Court decision (G.R. No. 199802) calling for Congress to provide LGUs a share from national taxes, not just internal revenue taxes.
    This will result in an unprecedented increase in their annual budgets which necessitates better planning, project planning, investment programming, monitoring and evaluation, and information dissemination by LGUs.