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Uniting for Local Autonomy, Converging National and Local Growth

The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) is the umbrella organization of all leagues of local government units (LGUs) and locally elected government officials, and was formed in 1998, registered in 1999, and further endorsed through Executive Order 35, series of 2004.

Prior to its creation, ULAP was called the "League of Leagues", which played an important convening role for the local governments to lobby and develop the Local Government Code of 1991. ULAP was created to convene and represent its member leagues and local governments to national and sub-national policy and program committees in continuous pursuit of strengthening and capacitating LGUs for local autonomy and good governance.

Republiko BudgetSurplus

The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), the umbrella organization of all leagues of local government units (LGUs) and locally elected officials in the country, supported by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the United Nations Philippines RePubliKo campaign, conducted a Round Table Discussion (RTD) entitled “Do local governments have too much money: Unpacking the Puzzle of Local Government Budget Surplus”. This was held on December 8, 2016 at Microtel by Wyndham, UP Technohub, Quezon City and was attended by a total of forty (40) participants from national government agencies, local government units, development partners, and member leagues.

 

The RTD sought to gather insights from key stakeholders to raise issues and responses on what seems to be “underspending” of local governments. It also facilitated discussions on the Special Education Fund and Bottom-Up Budgeting (BuB) to cater the concerns on local project implementation and budget execution. It is with this backdrop the RTD facilitated its discussion and program flow. Approaching the questions on the interface of national and local governments, resource speakers were invited to present different perspectives on local government’s fiscal spaces. Some of the issues identified during the RTD by the participants were the following: 1. Non-alignment of priorities between national and local governments, 2. Unclear assignment of functions (national vis- à-vis local) on fiscal transfers and support and 3. LGUs’ autonomy on fund utilization.

This RTD has surfaced issues and concerns on how the local government budget surplus is viewed by key stakeholders. The outputs derived herein sharpened the questions and provide clearer context on the matter, taking a significant step to further discourses and studies. Ultimately, The output of this RTD is a white paper that can be used by local governance and public financial management advocates to pursue reforms to address the challenge at hand.

See Documentation: http://ulap.net.ph/resources/knowledge-products-and-reports/304-unpacking-the-puzzle-of-local-government-budget-surplus-do-local-governments-have-too-much-money.html

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