an
opportunity to explain to the national government and the general
populace the need for the automatic release of local government's
just share of national revenue. On this automatic release, much
of local autonomy, and the consequent democratization of governance
in the Philippines, hinges. Thus, representatives from the basic
sectors, the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines and
other leagues of local executives, and non-governmental organizations
were gathered for this forum to dialogue on the IRA issue.
In
the forum, papers from LGPF members were read to bring to deeper
discourse the major issues surrounding the IRA controversy. These
papers considered the legal and socio-political issues, as well
as the issues of democratization and good-governance tied to the
IRA. Given these issues, the forum hoped to bring forward to public
discourse the civil society position regarding the IRA reduction-a
position supportive of the demand of local executives for the
IRA release but qualified by a call for responsible and developmental
use of the IRA.
With
these proceedings we present the papers read in that forum as
well as some supplementary readings on this issue. We hope that
they make intelligible to the general populace as well as the
major players in local governance the issues involved. We also
hope that these proceedings contribute to a deeper understanding
of what the heart of the controversy is and what civil society
and local government officials should be fighting for.
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