Twice bitten by the COVID bug

With the help of his fellow former city mayors in the past, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos finds optimism in the 19th Congress to revise and update the existing Local Government Code amid existing realities on the ground since it took effect in 1991. Abalos believes that amending the 30-year old Local Government Code or Republic Act (RA) 7160 will find full support from the present members of Congress, especially from those who once served as local chief executives in the past.

In particular, Abalos pointed to Senator JV Ejercito and Rep. Rex Gatchalian who chair respectively, the Senate and the House committees on local governments. Abalos announced the plans of the DILG to initiate a proposed bill to amend RA 7160 during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday. Abalos originally wanted to present the proposed bill during the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting last Monday at Malacañang Palace.

However, he was found positive for COVID-19 infection Sunday night after undergoing RT-PCR test on the eve of the LEDAC meeting. Fortunately, the 60-year old DILG Secretary already got booster shots. Thus, he was just asymptomatic.

Abalos wanted to personally talk with his former fellow Metro Manila Mayors like Sen. JV who was an ex-San Juan City Mayor and former Valenzuela Mayor and now Congressman Gatchalian to start the ball rolling for the review of RA 7160. Abalos himself served for three consecutive terms as Mayor of Mandaluyong City (2007-2016).

In fact, Abalos cited, there is already a technical working group from the DILG and the Senate and the House committees on local government drawing up the specific proposed amendments of RA 7160. “It could be filtered out very well between the three of us,” he quipped.

And the chief supporter of this initiative, Abalos stressed, is President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (or PBBM for short). The Chief Executive also once served as Ilocos Norte Governor from 1998-2007. Actually, PBBM first served as Vice Governor of his home province from 1981-1983 and later became Governor from 1983 to 1986.

Incidentally, PBBM quietly signed into law RA 11935 that officially postponed the holding of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE). For the third time, the scheduled holding of BSKE in last Monday of October 2023. Although signed on Oct. 10 (Monday), it popped out at the Official Gazette last Wednesday night as published.

Curiously, however, Malacañang announced on Monday that PBBM only signed RA 11934, or the mandatory registration of subscribers’ identity module (SIM). As touted by the Office of the Press Secretary, the signing of the SIM Law capped the first ever convening of the LEDAC held at Malacañang that day.

Why Malacañang deliberately kept it under wrap and instead directly published the same at the Official Gazette without official announcement? Unlike the SIM Law, the postponement of the BSKE was certified by PBBM as urgent administration bill. Thus, it enabled both chambers of the 19th Congress to fast track its approval into law before they adjourned last Sept. 30 for their month-long recess.

Perhaps, the President merely wanted to signal sharing the sentiments of those opposed to the postponement anew of the barangay and SK polls.

No less than presidential sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, reluctantly endorsed and shepherded its passage into law but reiterated her concern against it. In her sponsorship speech, Sen. Marcos rued the latest postponement would enable non-performing barangay and SK officials in more than 42,000 barangays nationwide to stay one more year on holdover capacity.

The barangay is regarded as the smallest political unit in our country.

But quite a number of election-related violence involved killings and murder of barangay chiefs. Although signed into law already, Abalos reiterated the DILG and the Philippine National Police (PNP) will continue with its intensified campaign to stop the proliferation of illegal firearms and to disband private armed groups to prepare all the way for peaceful and orderly conduct of the BSKE in Oct. next year.

Meanwhile, Abalos averred PBBM specifically tasked him to study along with Budget Department how to implement the devolution of certain national government functions to LGUs as mandated under the Local Government Code. The President instructed Abalos how to fully implement the Supreme Court (SC) decision popularly called for short as the Mandanas ruling. Named after its main petitioner, former Congressman and now Governor of Batangas Hermilando Mandanas, the High Court corrected the computation of internal revenue allotments (IRA) of the LGUs, thus, giving them bigger allocations under the annual budget of the national government.

The DILG chief conceded many LGUs might not be able to carry the responsibilities of full devolution. So the DILG has set up a transition plan to enable the national government to fully comply with the Mandanas ruling.

“It (Mandanas ruling) was an ideal concept but reality bites,” Abalos pointed out.

But for the meantime, Abalos must get back to full health. This was actually the second time he had COVID infection. He first got infected with this deadly flu-like illness while caring for his namesake father, former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos who got hospitalized for COVID in the early months of the pandemic in 2020. Just last month, the DILG Secretary admitted, he was stricken with flu. Due to it, he was not able to join the official Philippine delegation during the official visit of PBBM to the United States last Sept. 18-23.

So we had to do a virtual interview online with Abalos in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday. Apologizing to his close contact, Abalos was still wearing his white K-95 mask in outdoor setting. Today will be his last day though of the required five days of isolation. Twice bitten by the COVID bug, Abalos vows to intensify the government’s booster shot campaign by LGUs to lick this threat to public health.