Nature and structure of local government

1. CREATION AND
STRUCTURE OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT; AND
NATURE OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
Tahir, Fatimah B.
Unos, Hakeem S.
Usman, Norjanah A.

2. Creation of Local Government
■ The cities, municipalities, and provinces of today evolved from the barangays of pre-
Spanish times, the pueblos and cabildos of the Spanish colonial days and the
townships of the American regime.

3. The Barangays
■ The pre-Spanish barangays were the first political and social organizations of the
Philippines.A barangay was a settlement of some 30 to 100 families and a
governmental unit in itself.
■ A barangay (Filipino: baranggay, is the smallest administrative division in the
Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward.)

4. Spanish Conquest and Centralism
■ The lack of unity among the warring barangays made conquest easier for the Spaniards.
■ Gradually, the Datus were shorn of their powers.
■ The Spaniards organized:
– Pueblos (municipalities),
– Cabildos (cities),
– and Provincias (provinces).
■ The provinces were established “for the convenience of administration and constituted the
immediate agencies through which the central government could extend its authority on
numerous villages.”
■ In place of the barangays, barrios were established, and the datus were made into cabezas
de barangay whose only remaining function was the collection of taxes for the Spanish
government.

5. Local Governments during the First Philippine Republic
■ The importance of local governments was recognized by Gen. EmilioAguinaldo and
Apolinario Mabini in their program of government for the First Philippine Republic.
■ The MalolosConstitution provided a separate article on local government (Title XI,
Article 82).
■ Local autonomy was made explicit in the introductory portion which stipulated that
“the organization and powers of the provincial and municipal assemblies shall be
governed by their respective laws.”

6. Local Governments during the American
Regime
■ The Americans contributed very little, if at all, to the development of local autonomy.
■ In fact, national-local relationship reverted to the strong centralism that characterized
the Spanish colonial regime. .”
■ The Commission’s blueprint for town organization provided for a President to be
elected viva voce by residents of the town with the approval of the Commanding
Officer.
– His duty consisted in the establishment of a police force, collection of taxes,
enforcement of regulations on market and sanitation, establishment of schools, and
the provision for lighting facilities.

7. The Commonwealth and Centralism
■ The forms and patterns of local government during the American civil administration
remained essentially the same during the Commonwealth period.
■ The only notable changes were the transfer of central supervision from the Executive
Bureau to the Department of Interior and the creation of more chartered cities.
■ President Quezon, the central figure of the government during this period, even
argued against autonomy in the cities, hinting that “under the unitary system of
government which exists in the Philippines, the national chief executive does and
should control all local offices.”

8. Local Governments under the Republic
■ The national government was supreme and local governments were merely its
political and administrative subdivisions.
■ Most of the formal and real powers are vested and exercised by the national
government.
■ Local units, however, possessed a certain degree of autonomy.
■ During Marcos's authoritarian years (1972-86)
– a Ministry of LocalGovernment was instituted to invigorate provincial, municipal,
and barangay governments.

9. Local Governments at present
■ After the People's Power Revolution, the new Aquino government decided to replace
all the local officials who had served Marcos.
■ CorazonAquino delegated this task to her political ally,Aquilino Pimentel.
■ Pimentel named officers in charge of local governments all across the nation.
– Local officials elected in 1988 were to serve until June 1992, under the transitory
clauses of the new constitution.
■ Thereafter, terms of office were to be three years, with a three-term limit. On October
10, 1991,The Local Government Code 1991 (R.A. 7160) was signed into law.This Code
ordained an authentic and workable local autonomy through the devolution of certain
powers from the national government to the local governments.

10. STRUCTURE OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT

11. Structure of local government
■ □Provinces and Independent Cities
■ □Components Cities and Municipalities
■ □ Barangays

13. Autonomous regions
■ In 1989, a plebiscite established the ARMM.
■ In 2001, a plebiscite in the ARMM confirmed the previous composition of the
autonomous region and added Basilan and Marawi City Lanao Del Sur.
■ In 2019, another plebiscite confirmed the replacement of the ARMM with the
Bangsamoro, and added Cotabato City and 63 barangays in Cotabato

14. PROVINCES
■ The provinces are organized into component cities and municipalities
■ A province is governed by the governor and a legislature known as the
Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

15. Cities and municipalities
■ Cities and municipalities are governed by mayors and legislatures, which
are called the Sangguniang Panlungsod in cities and the Sangguniang
Bayan in municipalities.

16. Barangays
■ A barangay's executive is the Punong Barangay or barangay captain and its legislature is
the Sangguniang Barangay, composed of barangay captain, the Barangay Kagawads
(barangay councilors) and the SK chairman. The SK chairman also leads a separate
assembly for youth, the Sangguniang Kabataan or SK.

17. NATURE OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
Reporter: Fatimah B.Tahir

18. LOCAL GOVERNMENT
■ The lowest level of elected territorial organization
within a state (Atienza, 2006)
■ Government specific to a particular locality
(Heywood, 2013)

19. FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
■ Provide local public services, e.g. health services
■ Implement national welfare services.

20. APPROACHES
IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE
CENTRALIZATION (Heywood,
2013)
■ The concentration of political power
or government authority at the
national level.
DECENTRALIZATION (Rondinelli
and Cheema, 1983)
■ The transfer of planning, decision-
making, or administrative authority
from the central government to field
organizations, local governments, or
nongovernmental organizations.

21. VARIANTS OF DECENTRALIZATION
■ DECONCENTRATION
Redistribution of administrative responsibilities only within the central
government.
■ DELEGATION
Decision-making and management authority for specific functions is
delegated to organizations not under the direct control of central
government.
■ DEVOLUTION
Central government relinquishes certain functions or creates new units of
government that are outside its control.
■ PRIVATIZATION
Transfer of functions from government to non-governmental organization.

22. “ It is better for a city to be governed by a
good man than by good laws.”
■ Aristotle

23. • “ It is better for a city to be
governed by a good man than by
good laws.”