EDITORIAL
AHEAD of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA), Nueva Vizcaya Gov. Jose “Jing” Gambito pointed to one of the most important but least flashy reforms of this administration: the decision to “download” nationally funded projects directly to local government units (LGUs) for implementation.
It is a shift worth keeping and expanding.
For too long, infrastructure and social programs designed in Manila would arrive in the provinces with little local input and even less local accountability. When problems surfaced — delays, substandard work, or projects that existed only on paper — the blame was diffused across agencies hundreds of kilometers away. Residents had no clear person to ask.
The current arrangement changes that. Under it, budgets from national agencies are transferred to LGUs, and it is governors, mayors, and municipal engineers who manage the bidding, construction, and reporting.
As Gambito noted, this puts implementation where oversight is closest. Local officials are elected by the very people who will use the road, the hospital or clinic, or the irrigation canal. If a project is delayed or poorly done, there is no passing the buck. “Local officials are the first ones the public will hold responsible,” Gambito said. That direct line of accountability is not just political theory. It is the daily pressure of town halls, market conversations, and the next election.
The shift also addresses a chronic problem: “ghost projects.” When LGUs handle the funds and must answer to their constituents for results, the incentive to participate in fictitious initiatives drops. Credibility is on the line in the same community where leaders live. As the governor put it, when the LGU implements, it ensures the project “will genuinely benefit the people.”
This is not an argument for leaving LGUs to do everything alone. National agencies still have a vital role in setting standards, providing technical support, and auditing. But execution belongs where the need is felt first. Local governments know the terrain, the contractors, the weather patterns, and the community priorities better than any central office can.
Nueva Vizcaya’s experience illustrates the point. Gambito thanked the national government for its continued support to the province and expressed hope that the partnership continues in the remaining years of the administration. That partnership only works if both sides play to their strengths: the national government provides the resources and policy direction, LGUs deliver on the ground.
With two years left in this term, the challenge is to institutionalize the gains. That means faster budget releases to LGUs, clearer guidelines to prevent confusion, capacity-building for smaller municipalities, and transparent reporting so citizens can track every peso.
Decentralization is not new in Philippine law. What is new is the consistent practice of trusting LGUs with the money and the responsibility, and then letting voters judge the results.
The SONA will rightly focus on big numbers — growth, debt, energy, food. But governance is also measured in smaller units: a finished barangay road, a functioning health center, a dam that actually irrigates.
By putting implementation in the hands of elected local leaders, the administration has brought government closer to the people it serves. That is a shift worth defending, and worth making permanent. (LCD)