President Rodrigo Duterte has issued an order implementing the Local Government Reform Project (LGRP) and forming an interagency governing board (IGB) to manage it.
The goal of the LGRP is to “boost local government revenue mobilization through improvements on the administration and management of real property taxes.”
“To ensure the successful implementation of the LGRP, and as part of its implementing arrangements, there is a need to convene an interagency body that will set the policy direction of the project and ensure proper complementation, cooperation and coordination of executing and implementing agencies, and relevant stakeholders,” Duterte’s Administrative Order 40 read.
The IGB, meanwhile, will be tasked to lead the policy direction and oversight function in the implementation of the LGRP relative to property valuation and assessment reform activities, project strategy and direction, and project oversight and coordination.
The board must also ensure that the LGRP will strengthen institutional development and policy support for property valuation, implement property tax valuation database and information
systems, enhance real property taxation of selected local government units (LGUs) and professionalize local assessors and strengthen the capacity of LGUs.
The project will be implemented in partnership with the Asian Development Bank.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III will head the IGB.
Other members of the board include:
- National Economic and Development Authority
- Department of Budget and Management
- Department of the Interior and Local Government
- Department of Information and Communications Technology
- Bureau of Internal Revenue
- Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF)
- Leagues of Provinces, Cities, and Municipalities
- non-government organization which may be from a women’s organization
- the private sector
The IGB will be deemed dissolved by July 31, 2024, unless extended by the president. John Ezekiel J. Hirro