The theory of lawyer Raul Lambino that “bringing local government closer to the people will improve the lot of the poor” (“Will ‘bringing government closer to the people’ help the poor?” Mapping the Future, Business, 5/14/18) sounds redundant, because the present decentralized form of local governments was precisely designed by law to work like that.
Republic Act No. 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, is replete with clear provisions that prescribed peoples’ participation in all aspects of local development programs, be it in health, education, environment, agriculture, public works, social welfare, the criminal justice system, tourism and the like. Its core purpose till today is to “privatize” public administration or “reinvent” the way we govern to help the many who are still poor.
May I cite the case of Nueva Vizcaya, a very poor province in 1992, where more than half of the population was living below the poverty line, but whose provincial governor at the time used local autonomy and limited devolved powers more creatively by empowering people to rise above their poverty. He used simple but practical approaches in arresting environmental degradation, for example: “Take care of the people and they will take care of the forest,” he said. In a short time, the province earned recognition in forest management, peace and order, prison management, health, etc. and was a recipient of awards from Galing Pook.
After 12 years of sustained people’s participation in governance, the province’s poverty level of 52 percent in 1992 dropped dramatically to a low of 4 percent in 2003! In addition, Nueva Vizcaya distinguished itself as having generated the highest per capita income among 78 provinces in the Philippines.
Based on this well-documented success story of local autonomy, decentralization and devolution, there seems to be no need to shift to federalism to kick poverty and attain peace and order in the country. What is needed is for the Department of the Interior and Local Government to enforce and monitor LGUs to faithfully implement the Local Government Code. It may also be helpful for the congressional oversight committee to introduce meaningful amendments to the code.
VIRGILIO A. TIONGSON, virgilioationgson@yahoo.com