MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has signed into law a bill institutionalizing the automatic income classification of local government units (LGUs), Malacañang announced Friday.
Marcos inked Thursday Republic Act 11964, or the “Automatic Income Classification of Local Government Units Act,” a law that aims to provide a more responsive approach to the promotion of local autonomy and to enable LGUs to realize their full economic potential.
“The Department of Finance (DOF), in coordination with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and in consultation with LGU Leagues, will craft the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) within three months from its effectivity,” Communication Secretary Cheloy Garafil said in a statement.
Malacañang has yet to release a copy of RA 11964.
The new law classifies provinces, cities, and municipalities according to their income ranges and average annual regular income.
Under RA 11964, the Finance Secretary, in consultation with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and concerned LGUs League, will have the authority to adjust the income ranges based on the actual growth rate of the annual regular income from the last income reclassification.
The Secretary of Finance is also designated to undertake regular income reclassification once every three years to make sure that LGU income reclassification conforms with the prevailing economic conditions.
Garafil said the first general income reclassification would be made within six months after the effectivity of RA 11964, and every three years thereafter.
“According to the newly signed legislation, the first income reclassification of provinces, cities, and municipalities will take effect on January 1st of the immediately succeeding year following the issuance of the table of income classification by the Finance Secretary,” she said.
Garafil cited that under RA 11964, municipalities would be classified into five classes.
“LGUs will be classified as First Class, or municipalities earning an annual average income of PHP200,000,000; Second Class, municipalities earning an average annual income of PHP160,000,000, or more but less than PHP200,000,000; Third Class, those earning PHP130,000,000 or more, but less than PHP160,000,000; Fourth Class, those with an annual average regular income of PHP90,000,000 or more, but less than PHP130,000,000; and Fifth Class, those with an average annual income of less than PHP90,000,000.”
She added that the LGU income classification would serve as the basis for the identification of administrative and statutory aids, financial grants, and other forms of assistance to LGUs.
She said the institutionalization of the income classification system would also help determine the LGUs’ capability to undertake development programs and projects.
The law will also serve as a guide for the total annual supplemental appropriation for personnel services of an LGU, and for the compensation adjustment for LGU personnel, under RA 11466 or the Salary Standardization Law of 2019.
“It could also serve as the basis for the creation of the new LGU, setting of the number of elective members in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the Sangguniang Bayan, issuance of a free patent title to residential lands, minimum wage of domestic workers, insuring LGU properties with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and for setting the limitation on the percentage of agricultural land area that can be reclassified and the manner of their utilization,” Garafil said.
“In line with this, the State recognizes the need to determine the financial capability and fiscal position of local government units,” the law said, as cited by Garafil.
Prime movers of PH progress
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), meanwhile, said the enactment of the law highlights the capability of LGUs to contribute to nation-building.
“RA 11964 is clear proof that the President—himself a former local chief executive—and his administration understands and values the role of LGUs in national development,” Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said in a statement Friday.
“With this new law, we now have a better, more flexible system of determining income classification, which responds to current economic contexts and considers the impact of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling,” he added.
Abalos also said the law’s enactment is an “apt development” in observance of October as Local Government Month.
“Truly, we stand closer than ever to the genuine local autonomy that was envisioned through the Local Government Code thirty-two years ago,” Abalos said. (with Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
