Principles Of Decentralization In The Philippines

Every nation and its citizens aim for independence, prosperity, and equality. These three principles generally govern the ideals of a free state and of the free people, and may have become the philosophy to pursue for fruitful development that the people and their nation shall benefit from. These three principles are the manifestations that a nation upholds the interests of its people, and the Philippines is an example of such nation.
The Preamble of the 1987 Philippine Constitution shows the aim to establish a strong state that shall “embody [the Filipinos’] ideals and aspirations” to “secure … the blessings of independence and democracy” (“The Constitution”). As a newly liberated country, the Philippines faced challenges to assert its stability as a nation, and before the 20th century ended, the country adapted the principle of decentralization as a means for holistic development for the Filipino people and equal development among its territories through the 1991 Local Government Code. Yet, although the Philippines has the 1991 Local Government Code as the governing policy in

Specifically, Chao presents that decentralization aims to develop three aspects in local governments, namely the capacity of local governments “to generate its own revenues and deliver basic public services,” the capacity to practice legislation at the local level, and the capacity to govern its territory autonomously from the national government (32-33). With these capacities distributed at a local level, the government can immediately address the concerns of its constituents and provide services to them directly without going through the large bureaucratic processes, such as those bureaucratic processes conducted by the agencies of the national government. Because this principle seems to portray a possible ideal method in governing a country, the Philippine government adapts