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Puno Wants LGUs to Have Greater Say in Government Projects Implemented at Local Level

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July 26, 2009
 
Local government units should be given a substantial voice in the decision-making process for development projects selected by the national government on their behalf by giving them official representation in national agencies and offices that oversee countryside development and other LGU-related concerns. 

Secretary Ronnie Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) broached this proposal even as he emphasized the need for LGUs to harness their corporate powers and other alternative financing options spelled out under the Local Government Code to generate more revenues for their development projects. 

Pointing out the need to “take LGU empowerment to a much higher plane,” Puno said he has given up his seat at the board of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in favor of a representative from the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP)—the umbrella group of all organizations of elective local executives from the provincial to barangay levels—to help ensure that big-ticket projects being approved by the national government truly dovetail with the needs of the localities where these high-impact plans are supposed to be implemented or built. 

“There can be no genuine autonomy if local executives remain out of the loop in the decision-making process of the national government, especially when it concerns the selection of development projects in their respective localities,” Puno said. 

He noted: “One way we can truly empower our local executives and give them a more substantial voice in the decision-making process of Government, most especially in the spheres of countryside development and peace and order, is by giving them official representation in national institutions that oversee these concerns.” 

Puno said LGUs should also have a bigger say on how funds are spent for national projects of which they are supposed to be the lead implementors in their localities.

He said that to improve the delivery of services by LGUs to their respective constituencies, a major overhaul is needed in public governance. 

Puno  noted that “the country’s local elective officials are directly aware of what the people need in their respective communities and, at the same time,  are accountable to those who elected them to office.” 

“Hence, it is only proper for them to have a bigger voice in the selection of development projects that are meant to improve the living standards of the people they serve,” he said. 

He said his proposal will help avert potential mismatches between what development projects are approved by the national government purportedly on behalf of LGUs and what these local governments actually need in their provinces, cities or municipalities.