Ripe for a Big Bang? Assessing the Political Feasibility of Legislative Reforms in the Philippines’ Local Government Code
In the Philippines' highly decentralized political system, smooth functioning of inter-governmental relations is key to effective service delivery and good governance overall. Although considered a milestone, the 1991 Local Government Code, th...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Language: | English |
Published: |
2012
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110909084732 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3556 |
Summary: | In the Philippines' highly
decentralized political system, smooth functioning of
inter-governmental relations is key to effective service
delivery and good governance overall. Although considered a
milestone, the 1991 Local Government Code, the
Philippines' basic legislation governing
inter-governmental relations, contains provisions that
thwart vertical and horizontal resource equalization among
local government units, and contributes to mismatch between
expenditure assignments and the fiscal capacities of the
local government units. Numerous technical reports have
called for adjustments to the existing revenue and
expenditure assignments, yet no tangible progress has been
made. This paper assesses the prospects of legislative
reforms on the revenue side of the decentralization
framework. Using a variety of approaches ranging from a
historical analysis to institutional analysis of the
legislative dynamics in the Philippine congress, it assesses
the prospects of a major overhaul of the Local Government
Code and concludes that a significant reform is highly
unlikely under the conditions prevailing in the late 2010s.
By implication, any effort to improve the Philippines'
inter-governmental framework will have to settle for
sub-optimal incremental measures within the inefficient
revenue assignment arrangement. |
---|