A test for LGU support fund
Amid the “political noise” that is getting louder with the next national elections just around the corner, hundreds of local chief executives from across the country gathered in Malacañang last Monday for the launch of “Sa Bagong Pilipinas, Bawat Bayan Makikinabang,” a program aimed at bringing public services closer to the people.
Central to this initiative is the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF), a perennial budget item that has been allocated a record P57.88 billion this year, 260 percent higher than the P16.08 billion requested by the Department of Budget and Management and more than double the P23 billion set aside in 2025.
The significance of the P34-billion increase in the LGSF this year—on top of the P1.19-trillion National Tax Allotment shares local government units (LGUs) will receive under the 2026 General Appropriations Act—was likely lost in the spectacle of politicians of all colors rubbing shoulders in one place and speculations over new political tandems.
But collective attention must be turned back to the record LGSF allocation that was met with both cheers and jeers.
Obviously, governors and mayors welcomed the increased funding and hailed it as much-needed assistance for key projects that will directly benefit their constituents, with President Marcos pointing out that the fund release will now be faster to help LGUs effectively respond to urgent needs of Filipinos.
People’s grievances
“As local chief executives, you are the first to feel the problems and the first to hear the people’s grievances. Because you know the true situation in your communities, change begins with you,” the President said.
He acknowledged that the fund had not brought in the desired results as the releases were hampered by voluminous paperwork that LGUs, especially the small and remote ones, found difficult to comply with and thus they were unable to tap the fund. Sometimes, the LGU requests get lost, the President said.
Thus, aside from increasing the fund itself, the national government has committed to cut red tape, expedite fund releases, and accelerate the delivery of essential services to the grassroots, with all LGUs having an equal chance to tap the fund, regardless of political color.
LGUs, however, do not get to treat the LGSF as a “blank check to be spent with abandon” as the use will be restricted to the priority areas identified in the 2026 General Appropriations Act, including infrastructure, education, food security, disaster resilience, and livelihood with “every peso is spent with transparency and accountability,” according to Executive Secretary Ralph Recto.
Funds can be used, for example, to build barangay health stations, multipurpose halls, and sports facilities that can also double as evacuation centers, water supply systems, rural electrification projects, and local road networks.
Political alliances
This all looks good on the press release, but budget watchdogs have sharply criticized the fattened LGSF as just another form of hated pork or discretionary funds that are prone to corruption.
Concerns have been raised that the fund under the executive department can be frittered away by unscrupulous government officials or used to curry favor or influence the realignment of political alliances especially with Vice President Sara Duterte already declaring her intent to run for president in 2028.
ACT Teachers party list Rep. Antonio Tinio indeed dismissed the launch as a “pork-giving” event and that pumping up the LGSF was a “clear tactic” by the Marcos administration “to win over those in the opposition, and to strengthen their position in the upcoming barangay elections, in preparation for 2028.”
Tinio already called out the LGSF during the budget deliberations late last year, underscoring that the 2026 budget still came with “pork barrel” within the LGUs, thus transforming public funds such as the LGSF into political weapons to punish foes and reward allies.
Highly skeptical
With Filipinos still seething over the widespread corruption that blighted flood control and other infrastructure projects and depressed economic growth last year, it should not be surprising that the people are highly skeptical about the motivations behind the increase in the LGSF.
Thus, it is incumbent upon the Marcos administration to implement the program as advertised.
LGUs, especially those in remote areas that need the assistance the most, should indeed get the funds and be empowered to access them and then spend on well thought-out priority projects that they have determined themselves to be what their communities truly need.
Mechanisms should be put in place at the local and national levels to ensure that every centavo will be spent as intended, thus live up to their promise that every town, city and province will benefit in this “new Philippines.”
To fall short means proving critics right, that the grand launch is nothing more than pomp and pageantry with little to show for it.
