Review on policies of national wealth underway

Plans are underway to review the government’s existing policies on the collection, distribution and utilization of revenues arising from national wealth, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M. Robredo reported over the weekend.

Robredo, whose department will lead other agencies in the conduct of the review, said there are reports that a significant number of local government units (LGUs) are receiving late, or in some instances, do not receive their rightful shares in the national wealth.

The DILG secretary explained there are inefficiencies in the current system of collection, distribution and utilization of environment, natural resource revenues.

He said the issue should be addressed as the LGUs are in the front line of poverty alleviation and sustaining the environment and natural resources of the country.

This developed as the DILG, through its Bureau of Local Government Development (BLGD), conducted a Technical Workshop for Philippine Poverty Environment Initiative (PPEI) Consultants and Responsible Parties with the objective, among others, to come up with complementary policies which will ease the current system.

BLGD Director Manuel Gotis said participants in the workshop believed that the national wealth is a significant source of additional funds which can be used by LGUs for sustainable environment and natural resources (ENR) management and poverty alleviation projects.

During the workshop, Paul Steele, Environment Advisor of the United Nations Development Programme Regional Office in Bangkok, enumerated four goals which the Philippine PEI should focus, namely: increase in collection of revenues from ENR; increase in expenditure for poverty alleviation and sustainable ENR; institutionalization of transparency on the benefits and revenues earned from extractive industries; and institutionalization of utilization of ENR revenues for poverty reduction in LGUs.

The PPEI is being funded by the UNDP with the DILG as implementing partner, with the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), as responsible parties. OPA, DILG