Empowerment of the local Government and its local chief executives is one of the major programs of Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno as soon as he assumed leadership of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). This program, he believes, is the grassroots of empowerment. Puno helps promote public governance so that there will be greater LGU participation in the planning process. He also wanted to see local executives to have a voice on how projects are selected by the national government.
In order for the said program to become a reality, Puno has given up his seat in the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). This is an arm of the government that is responsible for economic planning. The vacated seat of Puno was given to a representative of Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines or the ULAP, an umbrella organization of all groups of local chief executives from the provincial level up to the barangay level.
Aside from the empowerment of LGUs, Puno is also pushing for the MIRACLE program, which stands for Monetization of Internal Revenue Allotment Collectibles of Local Empowerment. The said program will enable local government units to immediately use their IRA allotments or IRA share from the national government so that they can easily monetize the funds in state run banks. With this kind of set-up, our local government units have pushed for high performing development programs in the local level. These two major programs or initiatives of the department surely help empower the local government units and allow for the LGUS to grow even with minimal help from the national government. Of course all these initiatives that empower the LGUs are complemented by the ever-reliable main service of the department and that is to ensure the peace and order in our communities.
