Palo, Leyte- In a dialogue facilitated by the National Nutrition Council 8 with the topic Mandanas-Garcia Ruling: Opportunities for Nutrition Support Among Local Government Units conducted on 14 July 2021 via virtual platform, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) assured that with the proper coordination and inclusion, nutrition program has its place for local funding and implementation in the coming years.

Timely as the Philippine Government prepares to fulfill its role, functions and services in the full implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling in 2022.

DILG Regional Director Karl Caesar R. Rimando said that with the ruling the local government units are now the actor in the implementation of basic services and that as early as today important programs shall be in placed in the plan.

The good director of DILG shared that the vulnerable group such as the children, women and pregnant which is close to his heart are the priority targets in the delivery of basic services to include the nutrition program implementation.

Meanwhile, Department of Budget and Management Ms Juvy Lobedica, Chief Budget and Management Specialist clarified that at present the LGUs IRA comes from 40% of national internal revenue taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. For the indicative FY 2022, Ms Lobedica shared that the National Tax Allotment (NTA) level is at 263,548,501,000 or 37.89% higher than the FY 2021 shares of LGUs.

In view of the devolution of certain functions, DILG and DBM advised for LGUs to formulate and prepare the Devolution Transition Plan, the Capacity Development Agenda, and to formulate the Communication Plan and strategies to effectively disseminate to the public delineation of functions of services between the national government agencies and the local government units.

Ms. Lobedica, emphasized on the preparation of the FY 2022 annual budgets through the Local Budget Memorandum (LBM) No. 82 as of June 14, 2021 or the Indicative FY 2022 National Tax Allotment (NTA) Shares of Local Government Units and Guidelines on the Preparation of the FY 2022 Annual Budgets of LGUs.

The dialogue provided support from the two authorities in terms of technical assistance and guidance in the smooth implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling which took many opportunities including the nutrition program implementation. #NASlabordo