LGUs and Food Crisis

In one of my provincial visits, I bumped into an old friend who was working with an LGU. Being the chap that he is, he invited me to his office to catch up with each other. On our way, I saw a bunch of farmers queuing outside the mayor’s office and I was told, they were chancing on the mayor’s help, mostly, for medical assistance or to get temporary jobs for their broods.

At that time, I was amused of the LGU’s “little sphere of influence”. But with news of the looming food crisis these days, those farmers make me mull over the developments which the Local Government Code and the decentralization policy have brought us.

After a score of implementation, there just seems to be no showing of any notable or practical program from local governments to help address our perennial social problems e.g. unstable food supply, unemployment, lack of health care and the like.
It seems to me that the policies which should have empowered our local governments to broaden the government’s reach have only leveraged the long term political plans of our local officials. In big issues such as the food crisis, it is the national agencies which get the brunt of the public’s wrath, yet not everyone can tell how our LGUs figure in the tableau.

Most analysts would agree that in order to provide long term solution to food shortage, sustainability is the way to go and that this can be done by giving priority to food production.
Under our present law, our local governments are empowered to adopt policies that will help encourage local farmers to plant and boost harvest. For instance, local governments may provide incentives such as farm inputs and technical assistance in terms of processing and marketing in order to support the viability of farm products.

However, there just seems to be plenty of reasons why policies such as these
cannot be enacted by our local councils, all the more implemented!

It is even curious that for years now, the Internal Revenue Allotments (IRA) of our local governments were beefed up to better dispense government services to the people. And yet, it is disheartening to see our locals lining up in front of a mayor’s office for help. To me, the situation looked more of a dole out to firm up a future political plan than a tangible local social assistance program.

On the brighter side however, there are also some performing LGUs with commendable and forward-looking initiatives. But what impact would their initiatives bear if there are only a few of them? It is just sad that the Local Government Code, potent as it may be for change, is emasculated by the wrong use of some “Fortuner- riding” politicians.

The brilliance of our laws and the social and economic growth we expect from it lie not so much on well-crafted semantics but on the sincerity and foresight of those sitting in the executive.

Should all our local leaders share a common sense of interest and purpose for this country, then the strength and impact of our laws would have been greater.

And maybe then, we can give our farmers a far better sense of dignity than beg for money sourced from their very own sweats.