ILOILO City – Thirty-three functions of the Department of Agriculture (DA) will be devolved to local government units (LGUs) by virtue of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling which is set to start in 2022.
However, there will still be a transition of the devolution of the functions of the national government agencies like DA within the next three years, according to Executive Director Remelyn Recoter of DA in Region 6.
Citing the provisions of Republic Act 7610, Section 17, Recoter said among the functions that are to be devolved include, for crops, seedling establishments, seedling funds, seedling nursery, and provision of planting materials; for livestock, prevention and control of animal diseases, breeding stations, and credit financing; for fisheries, fingerling dispersals, agricutural extension and demonstration farms; and for infrastructure and irrigation, communal irrigation, spring development, among others.
Recoter said they are looking forward to the readiness of the LGUs to handle the functions of the DA.
She was referring to the existence of personnel (plantilla position) within the office of the municipal, city, provincial agriculturists and veterinarians and office of Biosystem Engineer, as well as the availability of funds.
In July 2018, the SC ruled in favor of the petitions filed separately by Gov. Hermilando Mandanas of Batangas and the late Rep. Enrique Garcia Jr. of Bataan questioning the computation of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of LGUs.
In its decision, the high court expanded the source of IRA to include other national taxes such as customs duties. The IRA must be computed based on all national taxes, and not just from National Internal Revenue Taxes (NIRT).
It further states that the NIRT as provided in Section 284 of the Local Government Code contravened the express provision in Section 6, Article X of the 1987 Constitution.
“We see nga ang initial implementation of the Mandanas ruling would be at the provincial level with the number of personnel sa provinces… probably 80 percent of the 33 listed functions of the DA could be readily absorb,” said Recoter.
She noted that the department would also ensure that LGUs will be provided with capability-enhancement activities.
Recoter said the orientation of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) as the lead agency is ongoing while there are also provincial consultations with LGUs.
Meanwhile, Recoter said if there are employees of the department affected by the implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling, they have the options to either retire earl or transfer to LGUs or other units of the DA or other government agencies.
On the other hand, Recoter noted that based on the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the budget of the regional office for 2022 which is P2.1 billion comparing to 2021 was not really affected by the Mandanas ruling.
“The budget hearing at the House of Representatives is still ongoing, wala pa nabal-an if there will be decrease or increase,” said Recoter.
Recoter noted that based on the budget hearing of the Committee on Appropriation at the House of Representatives, they are not satisfied with the budget of the DA provided under the NEP.
She added that all of the district representatives in the country are amenable to increase DA’s budget which is proposed to be P270 billion but was cut down to around P70 billion./PN
