Speech by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the Oathtaking Ceremony of the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines National Executive Officers

Good afternoon. [Please take your seats.]

First of all, let me address of course all of you and congratulate the newly elected officers, officials of the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines.

You are my fellow workers in government and today you are our distinguished guests.

Because your assumption into office is a reflection of the trust and confidence that has been bestowed upon you by your peers. It speaks of their belief in your capacity to foster partnerships, to lead with purpose, and to uphold excellence within your organization.

Since 1988, the VMLP has stood as a very important partner to advance effective and responsive local legislation.

Through collaboration with national, local, and international stakeholders, you have contributed to boosting the capabilities of our local legislative bodies and in promoting meaningful local autonomy.

And yet, the work ahead remains as important as it always has been.

Because across the Philippines, many local government units continue to face limitations in administrative, financial, and technical capacity. And these constraints affect your ability to fully perform devolved functions and to deliver services to the people efficiently.

This is reflected in data: Only 29 percent of LGUs passed the Seal of Good Local Governance last 2023.

And for those that did not make it, the challenges were gaps in financial administration, disaster preparedness, and social protection systems.

At the same time, local fiscal autonomy is still quite constrained. In 2021, 64 percent of LGUs were dependent on the National Tax Allotment,

while externally sourced revenues accounted for 71 percent of their operating income.

Beyond this, the transition to digital governance remains uneven. Many LGUs continue to face inadequate infrastructure, poor internet connectivity, and limited ICT resources.

This is very important because what the national government is doing is to digitalize and to make as many functions in terms of the contact between citizens and government at every level to be as easy as possible and to be digital if possible only because we can do more. We can do it more efficiently. We can watch our funds much better when it is digital. And there are safeguards with digital transactions that we do not have when it comes to normal face-to-face transactions.

One of the simple principles that we are trying to follow is to remove as much discretion in terms of the decision-making as possible so that you do not need to have fixers. You do not worry about abuse in the practice of these issuances of let say of certificates, of licenses, of permits, and those kinds of things that really make a very, very big difference and – cause a lot of problems for our people.

And simply the efficiency is very clear. If you can do it over the internet, you do not have to find a way to go to the office, how many provinces – the regional offices, national offices, regional… And the regional office is, I don’t know, six hours, eight hours by jeepney away from where you have to go. And then you will be told to return after the first day because you need three more signatures. So you have to do that, et cetera.

Alam naman natin lahat ‘yan. Alam natin ang sitwasyon ng tao. I only bring this up to point out how important the digitalization is. Because even if national government is fully digitalized – and we are getting there. At saka malapit na ‘yung ating ano…

We have already issued around 90 million of the national IDs. And that will be the most important document that anybody – any Filipino will have. Because that national ID will give them access to all of the services of government, to all of the transaction in government.

Already, for example, sa BSP, Bangko Sentral, the majority, the large majority of the transactions are digital.

In many other cases, most of the transactions are already digital. And we have already seen how the efficiency has improved. And that’s why local government has to keep up.

Now, we understand, I understand very well that local government, as I mentioned earlier in my remarks, there is a difficulty with funding for many local governments.

And so the national government is willing to help. And that is why we have brought out so many programs. We have issued the… It’s the national government’s responsibility to increase the coverage of internet.

But beyond that, in the GIDA areas, there is no market even. You know the local – ang nangyari diyan is that the private service provider sabi nila wala kaming customer. Ba’t kami magtatayo ng tower? Ba’t kami mag-aano?

Sabi namin, we always compare just chicken and egg ‘yan. Pagka nilagyan niyo, magkaka-customer kayo. ‘Pag hinintay niyo ‘yung customer, talagang walang mangyari doon sa tower, et cetera, et cetera.

So what we have done – we have done – we are distributing SD cards. Sinimulan natin sa mga eskuwelahan. And then we will increase that program to the GIDA areas so that we are giving away… We are giving away SIM cards with something, I think it’s 50 gigabytes per month or something like that for each facility.

But again, if the local government still does not have the capability of interacting on a digital level with the rest of government, they will be left behind.

And that’s why I’m stressing that we, the national government, will do all we can to help. Alam naman namin that you don’t all have IT experts in your staff na magtatayo nitong mga systems na ito.

So we do have them in the national government and even in the private sector. Magpatulong tayo sa mga eskuwelahan, sa mga technical schools to help us with that.

So we are trying to put everything together. But I hope that you keep these priorities in mind.

And besides, compounding these issues is the persistent ambiguity in the delineation of functions between national agencies and LGUs.

And that’s why, because of, it is a combination of the provisions in the Local Government Code, the one, and then the Mandanas ruling, which I think everybody is familiar with.

And right now, we are still having to modify, amend, go through the IRR of the way the ruling is going to be applied.

And what we have done, we have come to the conclusion that the way to delineate functions between national and local is those that belong to a program that is national in nature will be attended to by national.

However, local projects, of course, will be up to the local government officials. And hopefully, once we apply the Mandanas ruling… We actually have already applied the Mandanas ruling.

But since we were using three years before, we were looking at 2020. Ang koleksyon ng gobyerno noong 2020, alam naman ninyo, napakababa dahil sa COVID. Kaya wala kayong naramdaman na increase.

Although technically applied na ‘yung IRA share na increase ng local government, wala naman naramdaman dahil ‘yun na nga dahil wala naman masyadong koleksyon noong 2020. But as the years should go on, you will begin to see that.

And so now we have to be very clear what is the responsibility of national government and what is the responsibility of local government.

We also recognize that most LGUs have similar problems, have common problems, na pare-parehong problema. But no LGU is the same as any other LGU. So we will have to find solutions different for each one.

And again, we have to be more open. And even ‘yung siyempre ‘yung mga inaalala natin lahat eh mako-COA kami kasi the rules are like that, mayroon ‘yun, kulang ‘yung documentation namin.

Iyon talaga, that’s really on the part of national… We’re trying very hard to streamline all that.

And mahirap kasi ‘yung – like one of the main problems, I’m sure that we will all agree ‘yung COA dahil ang dami-daming rules. At mahirap magkamali kasi madali magkamali dahil sa dami ng rules, contradictory na, patong-patong na ‘yung mga mga batas, mga regulations.

Kung talagang to… You know, we have, I’m sure, I don’t know if it’s the same with you, but we would have departments – sa mga department – sa amin department namin, kalahati nung nasa department, ginagawa lang ‘yung report para sa COA.

Para tinitiyak nila na hindi sila nagka-problema, hindi sila mako-COA. In other words, hindi maki-question ‘yung kanilang mga accounting.

And instead of having those people, instead of working on a report, and just making sure that all the comma is in the right place, all of the dashes – the date is correct, the spelling of the project is correct, all of these things, imbes na nagtatrabaho sila, actually serving the people, they’re spending all of their time on this.

Which you’d understand also kasi ‘pag hindi maganda ang pagkagawa, babalik ‘yan, uulitin na naman. Pagdating ng Enero, pupuntahan ka na naman ng COA at sasabihin papaano nangyari dito? Bakit ayusin natin ito? Ano bang problema?

So that’s the problem that we are facing.

But we are, nagkakaroon ng conflict because we also have [unclear] the Local Government Code, RA 7160. Marami na rin diyan mga concepts that are obsolete.

Just sa population, the definition of an HUC, the definition of province, lalo na ‘pag papasok ang BARMM, mayroon na naman tayong bagong – another kind of hybrid system.

So there’s a lot that we need to attend to and we can only do it kung maganda ang communications natin, buo ang internet natin, we are all able to talk to one another.

All of these problems strike to the heart of governance, of accountability, and the delivery of services. And that’s why we have taken many steps to address this situation.

In collaboration with the ULAP, the DILG, and the DEPDev, we are pursuing necessary amendments to the Local Government Code that clarify the responsibility, strengthen the accountability, and enhance the fiscal capacities of LGUs.

In parallel, we are improving coordination between national and local government units. We are supporting LGUs in digitalizing both frontline services and also the back-end systems.

So let me highlight some of the initiatives that we have taken for LGUs. We have enacted the Automatic Income Classification of Local Governments Units Act. It institutionalizes the automatic income classification of LGUs.

Essentially, ‘yung first class, second class, we are moving, we are also reclassifying that. Because I don’t know if any of you may have experienced it but we have experienced it in my province.

Walang gusto, ‘yung mga second-class municipality ayaw mag-first class. Kasi siyempre ‘yung subsidy mababawasan, hindi ba ‘yung tulong ng national government?

So sabi ko we should change that you know. We should reward success. Kung maganda ang performance, dapat mas lalo natin tutulungan o magpatulong ang iba, ‘yung maliliit, doon sa more successful ones. And that’s something that we are trying to have a look at.

So besides that, Executive Order 103 was issued last year. This extends full devolution of national government functions to LGUs until 2028.

This provides the necessary time to build capacity and because we recognize that there’s different levels of readiness with the different LGUs.

Kagaya nang sabi ko, alam naman natin iba-iba ang lagay ng iba’t ibang LGU. So we of course try to take as much of that into account as we can.

We also launched the Electronic LGU System or eLGU to help LGUs digitalize frontline services.

And this enables citizens to access permits, tax documents, civil registry records, business clearances. Lahat ito will be able to be done online.

As of the end of December last year, over 942 LGUs have already become part of the eLGU system.

In February of this year, we launched Sa Bagong Pilipinas, Bawat Bayan Makikinabang. This expands the Local Government Support Fund na matagal na nating naririnig. Kayo in your municipalities, kami in my province. LGSF, matagal na natin naririnig at lagi kaming nagtataka bakit may Local Government Support Fund ‘yung mga local government ‘di naman nakikita kung nasaan ‘yung fund na ‘yan.

Kaya we have expanded the LGSF to empower LGUs to implement critical programs yourselves – from rice distribution and healthcare infrastructure to rural electrification.

Also, we will extend assistance to our barangays through the Socio-Civic Projects Fund. This is guided by our commitment to inclusive and lasting progress.

Each barangay will receive a one-time educational grant of PhP100,000, alongside an equal amount dedicated to priority capital outlay projects identified by the community itself.

And so we have the mandated expenditure on the Bigas Program for the barangays. But ‘yung naiwan doon, they can also put it to bigas or they can use it for something else. That is up to them. And this is again to give the local governments more of a hand in running their local communities.

So this will equip LGUs with the tools, the resources, and the clarity of mandate that they need to serve effectively.

And more importantly, they are designed to unlock the full potential of LGUs: make you more self-reliant, make you more responsive, and more competitive.

But beyond policies and programs, real progress depends on people.

So let this gathering further deepen your commitment to public service.

Sa mga opisyal ng VMLP, ipagpatuloy ninyo ang diwa ng pagkakaisa, pagtutulungan, at malasakit sa bayan.

Palakasin natin ang ugnayan sa pagitan ng lokal at pambansang pamahalaan upang mas epektibo nating matugunan ang pangangailangan ng bawat komunidad.

Sana manatili kayong matatag at pursigido sa inyong paglilingkod, lalo na ngayong maraming krisis ang kinakaharap ng bansa dahil sa tensyon na nangyayari sa Gitnang Silangan.

Patuloy nating gabayan at suportahan ang ating mga mamamayan hanggang sa sama-sama natin malampasan ang mga pagsubok na ito.

Let us together shape a future marked by accountable governance, by responsive public services, and inclusive opportunities for every Filipino to thrive in dignity and to become his best.

Maraming salamat at mabuhay kayong lahat! [applause]

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