IV.

Local Autonomy

In constitutional sense, it means to polarize Local Government Units from over

dependence of central government. Local Government Units (LGUs) have certain
powers given by the Constitution which may not be curtailed by the national
government, but outside of these, local governments may not pass ordinances
contrary to statute.
Kinds of Autonomy:
1.
Decentralization of Administration- central government delegates
administrative powers to political subdivisions in order to broaden the base of
government power and in the process make LGUs more responsive and accountable
and ensure their fullest development as self-reliant communities and make them
effective partners in the pursuit of national development and social progress.
2.
Decentralization of Power- involves abdication of political power in favor of
LGUs declared autonomous and amounts to self-immolation, because the
autonomous region becomes accountable not to the central authorities but to its
constituency.

BASIC PRINCIPLES
Sec. 1 Act shall be known as the Local Government Code of 1991.

Under the 1987 Constitution, declared policy: The State shall ensure the autonomy of local
governments (Art. II, Sec. 25)

To highlight this policy, note, an entire Article (X) with fourteen sections is devoted to Local
Governments. Section (3) thereof mandates: Congress SHALL enact a local government code (a) to
provide a more responsive and accountable local government structure initiated through a system of
DECENTRALIZATION with effective mechanisms of recall, initiative and referendum, (a) allocate among
different local government units their powers, responsibilities and resources, (c) provide for
qualifications, elections appointment and removal, term, salaries, powers and function and duties of
local officials and (d) other matters relating to the organization and operation of local units.
Autonomy is either decentralization of administration (deconcentration) or decentralization of power
(devolution).

Decentralization of administration delegation by the central government of administrative powers to

local subdivisions in order to broaden the base of governmental power making such local governments
more responsive and accountable and insuring their fullest development as self-reliant communities
and effective partners in the pursuit of national development and progress (declared policy of LGC);
relieves central government of the burden of managing local affairs, enabling it to concentrate on
national concerns; the President exercises general supervision over them but only to ensure that
local affairs are administered according to law (Presidents mandate to ensure faithful execution of
the laws) but he has no control over their acts (he cannot substitute their judgment with his own).

Decentralization of power abdication of political power in favor of local government units declared to
be autonomous; the autonomous government is free to chart its own destiny and shape its future with
minimum intervention from central authorities; amount to self-immolation since the autonomous
government becomes accountable not to the central authority but to its constituency.

NOTE: Constitutional guarantee of Local Autonomy refers to ADMINISTRATIVE AUTONOMY of local

government units (or decentralization of government authority).

CASE: PROVINCE OF BATANGAS vs. ALBERTO G. ROMULO, G.R. No. 152774, 5/27/2004.
FACTS: Province of Batangas filed a petition for certiorari to declare unconstitutional and void certain
provisos contained in the General Appropriations Acts (GAA) of 1999, 2000 and 2001 earmarking for
said years five billion pesos (P5,000,000,000.00) of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for the Local
Government Service Equalization Fund (LGSEF) and imposed conditions for the release thereof such as
modifying the allocation scheme for such allotment as prescribed under the Local Government Code
and securing approval for local projects from the Oversight Committee on Devolution.
RULING: In Section 25, Article II of the Constitution, the State has expressly adopted as a policy tha,
The State shall ensure the autonomy of local governments. The State policy on local autonomy is
amplified in Section 2 thereof, It is hereby declared the policy of the State that the territorial and
political subdivisions of the State shall enjoy genuine and meaningful local autonomy to enable them
to attain their fullest development as self-reliant communities and make them more effective partners
in the attainment of national goals x x x .
The assailed provisos in the GAAs of 1999, 2000 and 2001 and the OCD resolutions violate the
constitutional precept on local autonomy. Section 6, Article X of the Constitution reads: Sec. 6. Local
government units shall have a just share, as determined by law, in the national taxes which shall be
automatically released to them. "Automatic" means "involuntary either wholly or to a major extent so
that any activity of the will is largely negligible; of a reflex nature; without volition; mechanical; like or
suggestive of an automaton. Being "automatic," thus, connotes something mechanical, spontaneous
and perfunctory. As such, the LGUs are not required to perform any act to receive the "just share"
accruing to them from the national coffers. The "just share" of the LGUs is incorporated as the IRA in
the appropriations law or GAA enacted by Congress annually.
The entire process involving the LGSEFs distribution and release is constitutionally impermissible.
The LGSEF is part of the IRA or just share of the LGUs in the national taxes. Submitting its
distribution and release to the vagaries of the implementing rules including the guidelines and
mechanisms unilaterally prescribed by the Oversight Committee from time to time as sanctioned by
the challenged laws and OCD resolutions, makes the release not automatic a flagrant violation of the
constitutional and statutory mandate that LGUs just share shall be automatically released to them.
Meaning of Administrative Regions are mere grouping of contiguous provinces for administrative
purposes, not for political representation. The division of the country into regions is intended to
facilitate not only the administration of local governments which the law requires to have regional
offices. Creation of administrative regions for purpose of expediting the delivery of services is nothing
new. The Integrated Reorganization plan of 1972, which was made part of the law of the land by virtue
of Presidential Decree No. 1, established 11 regions, later became 12. With definite regional centers
and required departments and agencies of the Executive Branch of the National Government to set up
field offices therein (DTI VII, DOLE VII, DPWH Regional Office). The functions of the regional offices is
to be established pursuant the reorganization plan are: (a) implement laws, policies, plans, programs,
rules and regulation of the department or agency in the regional area; (2) provide economical,
efficient and effective services to the people in the area; (3) to coordinate with regional offices of
other departments, bureaus and agencies in the area; and (3) perform such other functions as may be
provided by law.
Meaning of Autonomous Regions creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the
Cordilleras, which is unique to the 1987 Constitution, contemplates grant of political autonomy and
not just administrative autonomy to those regions. Thus, Art. X, Section 18 of Constitution mandates
for Congress to enact an organic act for the autonomous regions (with assistance and participation of
consultative commission composed of representatives appointed by the President from list of
nominees of multisectoral bodies) to provide for an autonomous regional government with a basic
structure consisting of an executive department and a legislative assembly and special courts with
personal, family and property law jurisdiction in each of the autonomous regions.

CASE: DISOMANGCOP vs. DPWH SECRETARY, G.R. No. 149848, 11/25/2004.

FACTS: Pursuant to Sec. 15, Art. X of the Constitution (for the creation of autonomous regions in
Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras), RA 6734 (An Act Providing for An Organic Act for the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) was enacted. Subsequently, the four provinces of Lanao del
Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, voting in favor of autonomy, became the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (provinces of Basilan, Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Palawan, South
Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur, and the cities of Cotabato,
Dapitan, Dipolog, General Santos, Iligan, Marawi, Pagadian, Puerto Princesa and Zamboanga said no in
the plebiscite) (later virtue of RA9054, the provinces of Basilan and Marawi City joined). In accordance
with RA6734, EO426 was issued placing the control and supervision of the offices of the DPWH within
the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao under the Autonomous Regional Government. Petitioners
Arsadi M. Disomangcop and Ramir M. Dimalotang (Dimalotang), in their capacity as Officer-in-Charge
and District Engineer/Engineer II, respectively, of the 1st Engineering District of DPWH-ARMM in Lanao
del Sur petitioned to nullify Dept. Order 119 and RA8999 (creating the Marawi Sub-District
Engineering Office and vesting it with jurisdiction over all national infrastructure projects and facilities

under the DPWH within Marawi City and Lanao del Sur. Petitioners contend that the challenged
measures violate ARMMs constitutional autonomy considering that the functions of the Marawi SubDistrict Engineering Office have already been devolved to the DPWH-ARMM 1st Engineering District in
Lanao del Sur.
RULING: Petition GRANTED. DO119 is violative of the provisions of EO426 (issued pursuant to RA6734).
The 1987 Constitution mandates regional autonomy to give a bold and unequivocal answer to the cry
for a meaningful, effective and forceful autonomy. Autonomy, as a national policy, recognizes the
wholeness of the Philippine society in its ethnolinguistic, cultural and even religious diversities. It
strives to free Philippine society of the strain and wastage caused by the assimilationist approach.
Policies emanating from the legislature are invariably assimilationist in character despite channels
being open for minority representation.
A necessary prerequisite of autonomy is decentralization. Decentralization is a decision by the central
government authorizing its subordinates, whether geographically or functionally defined, to exercise
authority in certain areas. It involves decision-making by subnational units. It is typically a delegated
power, wherein a larger government chooses to delegate certain authority to more local governments.
Federalism implies some measure of decentralization, but unitary systems may also decentralize.
Decentralization differs intrinsically from federalism in that the sub-units that have been authorized to
act (by delegation) do not possess any claim of right against the central government.
Decentralization comes in two forms deconcentration and devolution. Deconcentration
(administrative decentralization) is administrative in nature; it involves the transfer of functions or
the delegation of authority and responsibility from the national office to the regional and local offices.
Devolution, on the other hand, connotes political decentralization, or the transfer of powers,
responsibilities, and resources for the performance of certain functions from the central government
to local government units.
By regional autonomy, the framers intended it to mean "meaningful and authentic regional autonomy
(that is, a kind of local self-government which allows the people of the region or area the power to
determine what is best for their growth and development without undue interference or dictation from
the central government). To this end, Section 16, Article X limits the power of the President over
autonomous regions. In essence, the provision also curtails the power of Congress over autonomous
regions. Consequently, Congress will have to re-examine national laws and make sure that they reflect
the Constitution's adherence to local autonomy. And in case of conflicts, the underlying spirit which
should guide its resolution is the Constitution's desire for genuine local autonomy.
E.O. 426 officially devolved the powers and functions of the DPWH in ARMM to the Autonomous
Regional Government (ARG). More importantly, Congress itself through R.A. 9054 transferred and
devolved the administrative and fiscal management of public works and funds for public works to the
ARG. The aim of the Constitution is to extend to the autonomous peoples, the people of Muslim
Mindanao in this case, the right to self-determination a right to choose their own path of
development; the right to determine the political, cultural and economic content of their development
path within the framework of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Philippine Republic. Selfdetermination refers to the need for a political structure that will respect the autonomous peoples'
uniqueness and grant them sufficient room for self-expression and self-construction.
With R.A. 8999, however, this freedom is taken away, and the National Government takes control
again. The hands, once more, of the autonomous peoples are reined in and tied up. The challenged law
creates an office with functions and powers which, by virtue of E.O. 426, have been previously
devolved to the DPWH-ARMM, First Engineering District in Lanao del Sur.