Sen. Bongbong Marcos urges creation of oversight
committee to review Local Government Code

Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr, chair of the Committee on Local Government, has filed a resolution proposing the creation of a Senate select oversight committee to review the 20-year-old Local Government Code. Marcos said Resolution No. 549 calls for the creation of a committee that will exhaustively review the Local Government Code and introduce necessary amendments.

"It is essential to constitute the Select Oversight Committee on Local Government of 1991 in order to spearhead a methodical and exhaustive review of this important piece of legislation and to introduce the necessary amendments," Marcos explained

Since the enactment of the Local Government Code in 1991, Marcos noted, the law has not been thoroughly reviewed by Congress despite the numerous bills filed in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In fact, the senator said, only two provisions of the Code have been amended since 1991. These are the repeal of the Preparatory Recall Assembly, embodied in Republic Act 9244 and the increase in the average annual income requirement for a municipality cluster of barangays to be converted into component cities as mandated by Republic Act 9009.

"There is an imperative need to conduct a mandatory and comprehensive review of the Local Government Code to make it more responsive to the new challenges of local governance and the decentralization of the national government powers," Marcos stressed.

"Under Section 521 of the Code, Congress is mandated to undertake a mandatory review of the Code at least once every five years and as often as it may deem necessary, with the primary objective of providing a more responsive and accountable local government structure," Marcos emphasized.

Marcos said the Code aims to strengthen local autonomy and the devolution of powers to the LGUs.