MANILA, Philippines- Inaprubahan ng Senado sa ikatlo at huling pagbasa ang panukalang Automatic Income Classification of Local Government Units (LGUs) Act— isa sa priority measures ng Marcos administration.
Nakakuha ang Senate Bill 2165 ng 22 22 affirmative votes, 2 negative votes, at zero abstentions.
Ngunit mahigpit na tinutulan ang panukala nina Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III at Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros dahil mistulang ibinibigay ng Kongreso ang kapangyarihan sa Department of Finance.
“My objection is based on a policy question on whether we should delegate this power, which is legislative in nature, to the secretary of the Department of Finance. The stand of this representation is there is no need to delegate this power because even without this delegation of power the bill will achieve its objective of updating the income classification and even enhancing it,” ayon kay Pimentel.
Ayon sa minority leader, matagal nang ginagawa ng Kongreso ang naturang kapangyarihan simula noong1930s.
“The delegation that we have decided to DOF does not comply with the constitutional requirement as delineated by the Supreme Court. The bill is not complete because the Secretary of Finance was given the discretion as to how to adjust the numerical income ranges. There [are] no parameters for the adjustment. There is also a lack of sufficient standards as there is no limitation to the authority of the secretary. They can increase by one percent or up to 100 percent the ranges without any guideline,” paliwanag niya.
Kahit bomoto nang pabor, ipinaliwanag ni Senator Robin Padilla ang kanyang reserbasyon sa naturang probisyon na binabanggit ni Pimentel.
“Ang pangkalahatang prinsipyo ng non-delegation of legislative powers ay nakadikit sa doktrina ng separation of powers,” aniya.
“Binibigyan diin po natin na ang awtoridad ng Kalihim ng Department of Finance ay umaabot lamang sa pagrekomenda ng mga angkop na pagbabago ng naturang iskedyul ng kita o income ranges sa tamang awtoridad—ang Kongreso ng Pilipinas,” giit niya.
Layunin ng SB 2165 na magtakda ng income threshold para sa lalawigan, lungsod at munisiplaidad at bigyan ng kapangyarihan ang Secretary of Finance na regular na magkaroon ng klasipikasyon ng LGUs at pagbabago sa income ranges sa pakikipagkonsulta sa LGU leagues.
Ayon naman kay Senador JV Ejercito, isponsor na panukala, na walang LGU na maibababa ang kalagayan sa ilalim ng panukala maliban na lang kung magkakaroon ng kita na mas mababa sa income range sa susunod na reclassification.
“The measure also addressed redundant limitations between the Salary Standardization Law of 2019 and the Local Government Code of 1991, thus enabling LGUs to exercise their administrative autonomy in streamlining their organizational structures towards greater efficiency and responsiveness to their respective service delivery requirements, ayon kay Ejercito. Ernie Reyes
