PR News Clippings

At least P2 trillion in funds supposedly for local government units (LGUs) remain unappropriated as per the so-called Mandanas-Garcia doctrine that allows provinces’ tax collections to be used for their own infrastructure needs and other services, according to Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas.

Mandanas bared that the supposed funds, following the Mandanas-Garcia doctrine— in a landmark cases decided by the Supreme Court for regional development —have remained unacted upon via the budget deliberations in Congress.

Mandanas was guest speaker at the Manila Rotary Club regular weekly meeting at the Manila Polo Club. He said that the LGUs have been empowered to have the funds, but Congress continues to approve budgets that do not take into account the individual needs of the provinces. Such needs were supposed to be deliberated upon by the Regional Development Councils (RDCs). The RDCs, he said, are the ones that know what infrastructure projects to pursue such as road works and other services but unfortunately, it is Congress that makes the appropriations that, almost always, fails to take into account what the provinces actually need.

Sharing his experience as Batangas governor, Mandanas said that the province can boast of having the facilities for all of the municipalities and even barangays, as their needs are accounted for during the meetings of the RDCs. He revealed the difficulty that provinces experience in dealing with the national government. For instance, he said, Batangas should already have an international harbor approved by the National Economic and Development Authority, but the budget for such an important economic facility has not been set aside. Batangas can now boast of higher revenues with the infrastructure push that the province has undertaken and this has resulted even in higher revenues for the government. The customs zone in Batangas remits much higher revenues than before due to the changes that have been introduced, he said.

During the open forum, he also discussed the problems of corruption which he said can be solved by just applying the four tenets of the Rotary Club. What is needed, he stressed, is a day-to-day interaction that will include a communion with God since there is, after all, karmic justice. Mandanas pointed out that there are already laws in place to address corruption, and what is needed is just their implementation. In his view, the Anti-Red Tape Authority needs also to go beyond the scope of its operations to ensure economic growth.

The Mandanas-Garcia doctrine calls for the increase in the Internal Revenue Allotment of provinces. That doctrine, which Mandanas filed with the Supreme Court, mandates an increase by 55 percent of the IRA allotments of provinces.

The Batangas governor, who served three terms before and then took a stint in Congress to sponsor the so-called Mandanas ruling, said that the national government should heed the voice of the provinces in setting aside funds for their needs. What is happening, he said, is that the provinces come up with their own plans and programs for their respective jurisdictions but Congress does not take this into account in approving the budget. Worse, the national budget approves funds that do not actually result in fostering economic impact, via the projects, to the provinces concerned.