Introduction
A road, a health station or a business permit is somebody’s job. Devolution decides whose. It is the transfer of a power from a higher government to a lower one, together with the work, the people and the money that carry it out. Under the Bangsamoro Local Governance Code it runs one way: from the Bangsamoro Government down to its constituent local governments, gradually and systematically (Sec. 2).
A local government holds two kinds of power. The first it already has: what the law grants it outright, what is necessarily implied, and what is essential to the general welfare, from health and sanitation to peace and order in its territory (Sec. 17). The second is handed down to it under Book III of the Code, level by level.
The national code of 1991 and the ARMM’s code of 1994 listed what was devolved as “basic services and facilities”. This Code frames it by function, competence and authority instead (Secs. 17–18). A municipality is not only given a health center to run; it is given the job of health in its territory, and the offices to do it.
What it devolves is paid for mainly from each unit’s share of national taxes and its own revenues (Sec. 18), which is why the finances of a town say so much about what it can actually deliver.
How a power moves
5 years, after an assessmentSecs. 18, 592
The region’s ministries have 5 years from the Code taking effect to hand the powers, functions and services down. They do not hand them down all at once or to everyone alike: each transfer follows a comprehensive assessment of the unit’s financial viability and technical capacity. A municipality that cannot yet run a service is not left holding it.
The Devolution CommitteeSec. 592 · IRR art. 684
The Chief Minister was to convene a Devolution Committee within a month of the Code’s approval. It is chaired by the Senior Minister with the Minister of the Interior and Local Government as vice chair, and seats the Cabinet, the chair of the Parliament’s Committee on Local Government, 5 Members of Parliament, and one representative each of the provinces, the municipalities and the barangays.
It supervises the transfer of powers, functions, assets and liabilities. Its technical working group had 6 months to assess whether units could carry the devolved functions and 3 months more to submit a devolution plan. An initial ₱10,000,000 was set aside for its work. The implementing rules name the Interior and Local Government Minister as its chair; where the rules and the Code differ, the Code prevails.
What moves with itIRR arts. 367, 372
A service does not move alone. The personnel, assets, equipment and records that belong to it go down with it. The Ministry of the Interior and Local Government monitors each unit and certifies how far its devolution has gone.
The people already in the jobSecs. 588, 596
Appointive officials who held permanent posts before the Code keep them, without reappointment and without losing status, rank or salary grade, though they cannot be promoted unless they meet the requirements of the higher post. Anyone separated by a reorganisation under the Code gets the retirement benefits they are owed, or, if not yet eligible to retire, at least 1 month’s salary for every year of service on top of their leave credits.
Who already has it
Three places do not wait. Marawi City, Cotabato City and the province of Basilan, with its component municipalities and Lamitan City, keep the full devolution they already held before the Code (Sec. 19; IRR art. 372). The Bangsamoro Government may still open its own offices there to deliver its own services.
Who answers to whom
Devolving a power is not letting go of it. The Chief Minister supervises provinces, highly urbanised cities and independent component cities directly; component cities and municipalities through their province; and barangays through their city or municipality, whose mayor keeps a barangay’s acts within its powers (Secs. 29, 37).
There is one way for a power to come back up, and it is temporary. In an epidemic or other widespread danger to public health, the Minister of Health may, on the Chief Minister’s direction and after consulting the unit, take direct control of its health operations for the emergency, never for more than 6 months in all without the unit’s agreement (Sec. 117).
What each level does
What each level is responsible for under Book III. This is the job the Code gives it, not a list of what any particular town runs today. The Code’s own lists are longer; these are the parts a resident is most likely to meet.
The barangaySecs. 400, 408
The basic political unit, and the primary planning and implementing unit in the community: the place where people’s views are heard and disputes are settled first. 15 fields.
- AgricultureFarm-to-market roads, and a register of farmers and fishers.
- HealthThe barangay health station, and its barangay health workers.
- Social servicesThe Violence Against Women desk, the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children, and child development centers.
- EnvironmentWaste segregation, and a materials recovery facility.
- InfrastructureBarangay roads, footbridges, water supply, plazas and markets.
- Disaster risk reductionA barangay risk map and an early-warning system.
- Public orderTanods, who are civilians and may not carry firearms, and the katarungang pambarangay.
- EducationA library or reading center, and the palarong barangay.
- TradeThe barangay clearance a business needs for its permit.
- Tourism
- LabourThe kasambahay registry, and a help desk for overseas workers.
- TransportFranchises for pedal-powered traysikad.
- Cooperatives
- Human rightsA Barangay Human Rights Action Center.
- Culture and the arts
The municipalitySecs. 475, 480
A group of barangays, and the general-purpose government that coordinates and delivers basic, regular and direct services in its territory. 18 fields.
- AgricultureSeed farms, communal irrigation, post-harvest facilities and slaughterhouses; fishery laws in municipal waters, and licences for fishing vessels of 3 tons or less.
- HealthMunicipal health centers, and a medical assistance program.
- Social servicesThe Persons with Disabilities Affairs Office, the Office of Senior Citizens’ Affairs and the Local Youth Development Office.
- EnvironmentThe solid waste management board and plan, a materials recovery facility, communal forests of up to 50 square kilometres, and a climate change action plan.
- InfrastructureMunicipal roads and markets, through to public cemeteries.
- Disaster risk reduction
- Public orderThe People’s Law Enforcement Board, and mechanisms to settle rido.
- EducationThe municipal school board.
- TradeNegosyo Centers, the Business One-Stop Shop, and certificates for barangay micro business enterprises.
- Tourism
- LabourThe Public Employment Service Office.
- TransportTricycle franchises, and permits for telecommunication towers.
- HousingThe comprehensive land use plan and the zoning ordinances.
- Science and technology
- Tax modernisation
- Cooperatives
- Human rightsA municipal Human Rights Action Center.
- Culture and the arts
The citySecs. 492–496
A city does both jobs. It performs the same powers and functions, and delivers the same services, as a municipality and a province together. A highly urbanised city, at least 200,000 people and ₱50,000,000 in annual income at 1991 prices, and an independent component city, whose voters do not vote for the province, stand apart from the province. A component city remains part of the province it sits in.
The provinceSecs. 511, 512
The unit that drives development across its cities and municipalities and does what is too large for any one of them. 18 fields.
- AgricultureDairy farms, breeding stations, irrigation that crosses municipalities, and the provincial agriculture database.
- HealthProvincial and district hospitals, and other tertiary care.
- Social servicesTopping up what its cities and municipalities provide, and licensing social welfare agencies with the Ministry of Social Services and Development.
- EnvironmentChairing the provincial solid waste management board, enforcing forestry laws, regulating small-scale mining, and quarry permits of up to 5 hectares.
- InfrastructureProvincial roads and bridges, piers, jails, and waterworks that cross municipalities.
- Disaster risk reduction
- Public orderSettling rido between residents of different municipalities.
- EducationThe provincial school board.
- Trade and investment
- Tourism
- Labour
- Transport
- HousingReviewing and approving the land use plans of its cities and municipalities.
- Science and technology
- Tax modernisation
- Cooperatives
- Human rights
- Culture and the arts
The offices that deliver it
A devolved function needs someone to carry it. The Code fixes the offices each level must have, so the structure is the same in every unit of its kind; who holds them is up to the unit. The people in them for each town are on its profile.
In a barangaySecs. 413, 414
A punong barangay, 7 sangguniang barangay members and the sangguniang kabataan chairperson, all elected, with an appointed secretary and treasurer. Beside them sit the lupon tagapamayapa, child development center teachers, barangay health workers, purok leaders and local farm technicians. A purok is a division of at least 20 households. Tanods number 1 for every 200 inhabitants, and never more than 30.
In a province, city or municipalitySecs. 481, 513, 523–549
Every province, city and municipality elects a chief executive, a vice and a council. Under them sit the appointed department heads below. The Code also requires a disaster risk reduction and management officer, a youth development officer and a persons with disability affairs officer in a province and a municipality, and a senior citizens affairs officer in a municipality, where a fourth to sixth class municipality may name a focal person for persons with disability instead. An architect, a population officer and a human resources officer are among the posts it may add.
| Office | Province | City | Municipality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secretary to the sanggunians. 523 | Required | Required | Required |
| Treasurers. 524 | Required | Required | Required |
| Assessors. 526 | Required | Required | Required |
| Accountants. 528 | Required | Required | Required |
| Budget officers. 529 | Required | Required | Required |
| Planning and development coordinators. 530 | Required | Required | Required |
| Engineeralso the building official in a city or municipality · s. 531 | Required | Required | Required |
| Health officerss. 481, 532 | Required | Required | Required |
| Civil registrars. 533 | — | Required | Required |
| Administrators. 534 | Required | Required | Required |
| Legal officers. 535 | Required | Required | Optional |
| Agriculturists. 536 | Required | Required | Required |
| Social welfare and development officers. 537 | Required | Required | Required |
| Environment and natural resources officers. 538 | Required | Required | Required |
| Information officers. 540 | Required | Required | Required |
| Cooperatives development officers. 541 | Required | Required | Required |
| Veterinarians. 543 | Required | Required | Optional |
| General services officers. 544 | Required | Required | Required |
| Nutrition action officers. 548 | Required | Required | Required |
| Tourism officerrequired where there are major tourism industries · s. 546 | Required | Optional | Optional |
| ICT officers. 545 | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Local women’s development officers. 547 | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Librarians. 549 | Optional | Optional | Optional |
Read from the Code and its implementing rules, section by section. Where this page and the Act differ, the Act is right. Read Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 49 — Bangsamoro Local Governance Code and its implementing rules. The rest of the Code is on Governance Code.