DECENTRALIZATION and LOCAL
GOVERNANCE
LOCAL AUTONOMY
It refers to “self-governing”. It is the granting of more powers, authority,
responsibilities and resources by the national government to local government
units in order to be self-reliant and active partners.
DECENTRALIZATION
It is the transfer of power and authority from central institution to lower or local
levels of a government system.
***FORMS OF DECENTRALIZATION***
1. DEVOLUTION-It is the transfer of power and authority from the
national government to local government units. (LGUs)
2. DECONCENTRATION-It is the transfer of power, authority or
responsibility or the discretion to plan, decide and manage from
central to local levels; administrative and sectoral.
3. DEBUREAUCRATIZATION-It is the transfer of some public
functions and responsibilities, which government may perform, to
private entities or non-government organizations (NGOs)
AIMS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE OF 1991
1. To transform LGUs into self-reliant communities and active
partners in nation-building by giving them more powers,
authority, responsibilities and resources.
2. Hopes to achieve economic development at the regional and
local levels by giving more freedom in carrying out their
programs that are suitable for their areas.
DEVOLVED FUNCTIONS TO LGUs
1. Community-based forestry
2. Field health and hospital services
3. School building program
4. Telecommunications
5. Social welfare services
6. Tourism
7. Public Works
8. Housing
9. Agricultural Extension
10. others like investment support
Officially local government in the Philippines, often called local government
units or LGUs, are divided into three levels –
COMPOSITION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
1.provinces and independent cities; component cities and
2.municipalities
3.barangays
PROVINCE-intermediate unit. providing supervision to the municipalities and
component cities and under it and performing services for the national government.
CITIES AND MUNICIPALITIES-basic units of the local government delivering
services for the people who live together in a community.
BARANGAY-sub-municipal unit which provides for face-to-face interaction
among the people.
In one area,above provinces and independent cities,is an AUTONOMOUS
REGION.) The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARRM
BARANGAY SITIOS
PUROKS
All of these, with the exception of sitios and puroks, elect their
own executives and legislatures. Sitios and puroks are often led by
elected barangay councilors.
Provinces and independent cities are organized into national government
regions but those are administrative regions and not separately governed
areas with their own elected governments.
According to the Constitution of the Philippines, the local governments
"shall enjoy local autonomy", and in which the Philippine
president exercises "general supervision". Congress enacted the Local
Government Code of the Philippines in 1991 to "provide for a more
responsive and accountable local government structure instituted
through a system of decentralization with effective mechanisms
of recall, initiative, and referendum, allocate among the different local
government units their powers, responsibilities, and resources, and
provide for the qualifications, election, appointment and removal, term,
salaries, powers and functions and duties of local officials, and all other
matters relating to the organization and operation of local unit
LEVELS of LOCAL GOVERNMENT
AUTONOMOUS REGIONS
Autonomous regions have more powers than other local governments. The
constitution limits the creation of autonomous regions to Muslim
Mindanao and the Cordilleras but only one autonomous region exists:
the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). In 2001, a plebiscite in
the ARMM confirmed the previous composition of the autonomous region and
added Basilan (except for the city of Isabela) and Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.
Isabela City remains a part of the province of Basilan despite rejecting inclusion in
the ARMM. A Cordillera Autonomous Region has never been formed because
no plebiscite has received the required support.
An autonomous region is governed by the regional governor and a legislature such
as the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly.
PROVINCES
Outside the lone autonomous region, the provinces are the highest-level local
government. The provinces are organized into component cities and municipalities.
A province is governed by the governor and a legislature known as
the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
CITIES and MUNICIPALITIES
Municipal government in the Philippines is divided into three – independent cities,
component cities, and municipalities (sometimes referred to as towns). Several
cities across the country are "independent cities" which means that they are not
governed by a province, even though like Iloilo City the provincial capitol might
be in the city. Independent city residents do not vote for nor hold provincial
offices. Far more cities are component cities and are a part of a province.
Municipalities are always a part of a province except for Pateros which was
separated from Rizal to form Metro Manila.
Cities and municipalities are governed by mayors and legislatures, which are called
the Sangguniang Panlungsod in cities and the Sangguniang Bayan in
municipalities.
BARANGAYS
Every city and municipality in the Philippines is divided into barangays, the
smallest of the Local Government Units. Barangays can be further divided
into sitios and puroks but those divisions do not have leaders elected in formal
elections supervised by the national government.
A barangay's executive is the Punong Barangay or barangay captain and its legislature is
the Sangguniang Barangay, composed of barangay captain, the Barangay
Kagawads(barangay councilors) and the SK chairman. The SK chairman also leads
a separate assembly for youth, the Sangguniang Kabataan or SK.
OFFICES
Local governments have two branches: executive and legislative. All courts in the
Philippines are under the Supreme Court of the Philippines local-government and
therefore there are no controlled judicial branches. Nor do local governments have
any prosecutors or public defenders, as those are under the jurisdiction of the
national government.
The executive branch is composed of the regional governor for the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao, governor for the provinces, mayor for the cities and
municipalities, and the barangay captain for the barangays.
Level of government Legislature Head
Autonomous region Regional Legislative Assembly Assembly speaker
Province Sangguniang Panlalawigan Vice governor
City Sangguniang Panlungsod Vice mayor
Municipality Sangguniang Bayan Vice mayor
Sangguniang Barangay Barangay captain
Barangay
Sangguniang Kabataan Sangguniang Kabataan Chairperson
***Local government hierarchy in the Philippines. The dashed lines
emanating from the president means that the president only exercises
general supervision on local government.
ELECTED OFFICIALS
All elected officials have 3-year terms, and can only serve a maximum of three
consecutive terms before being ineligible for reelection.
Minimum age (18 is
LGU Official
the voting age)
Autonomous region Regional governor 35 years old on election day
Regional vice governor Same as regional governor
Regional legislative
21 years old on election day
assembly member
Governor 23 years old on election day
Vice governor Same as governor
Provinces
Sangguniang
Same as governor
Panlalawigan member
Mayor Same as governor
Vice mayor Same as governor
Highly urbanized cities
Sangguniang
Panlungsod member Same as governor
(Councilor)
Mayor 21 years old on election day
Independent component
and component cities Same as independent
Vice mayor component and component
city mayor[5]
Sangguniang Same as independent
Panlungsod member component and component
(Councilor) city mayor
Same as independent
Mayor component and component
city mayor
Same as independent
Municipalities Vice mayor component and component
city mayor
Same as independent
Sangguniang Bayan
component and component
member (Councilor)
city mayor
Punong Barangay 18 years old on election day
Barangay kagawad Same as Punong Barangay
Barangay Sangguniang Kabataan 15 to 21 years old on
chairperson election day*
Sangguniang Kabataan Same as Sangguniang
member Kabataan chairperson*
*a Sangguniang Kabataan official who has surpassed 21 years of age while in
office is allowed to serve for the rest of the term
Offices that are common to municipalities, cities and
provinces
There are 21 offices in a government, whether it is municipal, city or provincial.
There are some mandatory and optional offices to the government.
Office Head Municipality City Province
Secretary to
Office of the Secretary to
the √ √ √
the Sanggunian
Sanggunian
Treasurer's Office Treasurer √ √ √
Assessor's Office Assessor √ √ √
Accounting Office Accountant √ √ √
Budget Office Budget Officer √ √ √
Planning and
Planning and Development
Development √ √ √
Office
Coordinator
Engineer's Office Engineer √ √ √
Health Office Health Officer √ √ √
Office of the Civil Registry Civil Registrar √ √ X
Office of the Administrator Administrator √ √ √
Office of the Legal Services Legal Officer ? √ √
Office of Agricultural
Services/Office of the Agriculturist ? ? √
Agriculturist
Social Welfare
(Office of) Social Welfare and
√ √ √
and Development Office Development
Officer
Environment
(Office of) Environment and and Natural
? ? ?
Natural Resources Office Resources
Officer
Office of Architectural
Architect ? ? ?
Planning and Design
Information
Office of Public Information ? ? ?
Officer
Office for the Development
of Cooperatives
X ? ?
Cooperatives/Cooperatives Officer
Development Office
Population
Population Office ? ? ?
Officer
Veterinary Office/Office of
Veterinarian X √ √
Veterinary Services
(Office of) Public Safety Public Safety
? ? ?
Office Officer
General
(Office of) General Services
Services X √ √
Office
Officer
Legend:
√ - Mandatory
? - Optional
X - Not Applicable
Source: Local Government Code of 1991
CREATION and MODIFICATION of LOCAL governments
As a matter of principle, higher legislative entities have the power to create, divide,
merge, abolish, or substantially alter boundaries of any lower-level local
government through a law or ordinance, all subject to approval by a majority of the
votes cast in a plebiscite to be conducted by the Commission on
Elections (COMELEC) in the local government unit or units directly affected.The
Local Government Code has also set requisites for creating local government units.
A summary can be found in the table below:
Legislative bodies
that can create,
Local merge, abolish or
Area Population Income
government substantially alter
the boundaries of the
LGU
P20 million
for the last
two (2)
2,000
consecutive
Province square 250,000* Congress^
years based
kilometers*
on 1991
constant
prices
P100 million
for the last
100 square
City 150,000* two (2) Congress^
kilometers*
consecutive
years based
on 2000
constant
prices
P2.5 million
for the last
two (2) Congress
50 square consecutive
Municipality 25,000 ARMM Regional
kilometers years based
Assembly
on 1991
constant
prices
Congress
ARMM Regional
5,000 Assembly
(Metro
Sangguniang
Manila and
Panlalawigan, with
highly
recommendation
Barangay None urbanized None
from the
cities)
concerned
2,000 (rest
Sangguniang
of the
Bayan(s) required
country)
Sangguniang
Panlungsod
*either area or population; meeting only one of these requirements is sufficient
^The ARMM Regional Assembly was conferred by Congress (through Article VI,
Republic Act 9054) the power to create or modify lower-level
LGUs under its jurisdiction, including provinces and cities.
However, the Supreme Court's decision on the
unconstitutionality of the now-defunct province of Shariff
Kabunsuan has effectively confined the regional assembly's
powers to creating or modifying only municipalities and
barangays.
List of primary local government units
Below is a combined list of primary-level subdivisions of local
government in the Philippines. As of September 2015, there
were 81 provinces ( province ), 33 highly urbanized
cities ( HUC ), 5 independent component cities ( ICC ), and one
independent municipality ( NCR municipality ).[1] All 120
primary-level LGUs (local government units) are under general
administrative supervision of the President of the Philippines.
