Department of Budget and Management Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman emphasized the role of Local Government Units (LGUs) in achieving inclusive and sustainable economic prosperity for the country during the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) Senate briefing on the FY 2023 proposed national budget.

“With a total allocation of Php962.2 billion for LGUs, we aim to strengthen our efforts in capacitating and empowering them to autonomously deliver essential services to their constituents,” the Budget Chief stated.

The amount represents 18.3 percent of the Php5.268 trillion proposed national budget next year.

Of this amount, PhP820.27 billion is for the National Tax Allotment, adhering to the Mandanas-Garcia Supreme Court ruling. It also includes PhP28.88 billion worth of Local Government Support Fund (LGSF) which is around Php10.91 billion higher than the Php17.97 billion appropriated this year.

The LGSF is composed of Php13.88 billion for the provision of the Growth Equity Fund as financial assistance to the identified poor, disadvantaged, and lagging LGUs; Php5.00 billion for the financial assistance to be given to all level LGUs, except for those under BARMM; and Php10.00 billion for the Support to Barangay Development Program (SBDP).

The assistance to LGUs is aimed at implementing agriculture-related programs and projects, information and communications technology systems and infrastructure development, construction, maintenance, and/or rehabilitation of public spaces, and programs for disaster response, rehabilitation, and recovery.

“Despite the limited fiscal space, we tried to increase some of the budget allocations for LGUs,” the Budget Chief said, adding that the economic transformation agenda will not be possible without them.