Executive Order No. 51, January 22, 1993

DIRECTING LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS TO REVISE THEIR 1993 ANNUAL BUDGETS TO ADDRESS THE FUNDING REQUIREMENTS OF DEVOLVED NATIONAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY FUNCTIONS, ENJOINING THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES CONCERNED TO ADVANCE SUCH FUNDING REQUIREMENT FOR THEIR DEVOLVED FUNCTIONS AGAINST REGULAR 1993 ALLOTMENTS PENDING ENACTMENT OF THE REVISED 1993 ANNUAL BUDGETS AND INSTRUCTING THE SECRETARY OF BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT TO PROMULGATE AND ISSUE THE RULES, REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES TO BE OBSERVED FOR THE PURPOSE

WHEREAS, Section 284 of the Local Government Code of 1991, as well as the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for FY 1993, mandate that the internal revenue allotment (IRA) share of local government units (LGUs) for 1993 shall be P36.72 billion;

WHEREAS, Section 17(g) of the Code requires LGUs to allocate available resources or funds for the provision of the devolved national government functions before applying the same to any other purpose;

WHEREAS, notwithstanding such requirement, the majority of LGUs appear to have not included or have only partially included the cost of the devolved national government functions in their respective 1993 annual budgets;

WHEREAS, unless appropriated for by the Sanggunian concerned, no money may be paid out of the local treasury for the cost of devolved national government functions not included in the 1993 local annual budgets;

WHEREAS, the budgetary requirements for the devolved national government functions were not provided for in the 1993 appropriations passed upon by Congress for the national government agencies concerned under the GAA for FY 1993;

WHEREAS, Congress under the same GAA FY 1993 authorized the Department of Budget and Management to withhold the release from the IRA shares of LGUs such sums as may correspond with the cost of national government functions the devolution of which shall have been deferred or excluded through subsequent legislation;

WHEREAS, urgent ad hoc measures have to be undertaken to obviate disruption in the provision of basic and essential services and facilities to the people pending inclusion of the cost of devolved national government functions in the 1993 annual budgets of each LGUs:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, upon the recommendation of the Chairman of the Oversight Committee constituted under Section 533 of the Code, do hereby order and direct:

Section 1. Local government units of all levels shall revise their respective enacted, or deemed reenacted, annual budgets for 1993, within the period ending not later than 31 March 1993, to reflect the following:

a. The allocation by province, city, municipality, and barangay of the P36.72 billion internal revenue allotment appropriated by Congress for said fiscal year; and

b. The budgetary requirement for functions devolved by such national government agencies as the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Health.

Section 2. The concerned national government shall advance out of their regular 1993 allotments the personal services and basic maintenance and other operating expenses for the 1 January – 31 March 1993 cost of their respective devolved functions pending completion of the revised 1993 local annual budgets, subject to subsequent reimbursement for such advances against the IRA shares of local government units.

Section 3. The Secretary of Budget and Management shall be responsible for the programming of releases against the 1993 national budget and for the promulgation and issuance of such rules, regulations, and guidelines as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this Order.

Section 4. This Order shall take effect immediately

DONE in the City of Manila, this 22nd day of January, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and ninety-three.

(Sgd.) FIDEL V. RAMOS

President of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) ANTONIO T. CARPIO

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel