President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday called on local government units (LGUs) to be more prudent in using state funds and assets as he said the government was lacking resources.
In a courtesy call of Manila local officials in Malacañang, the president also highlighted the importance of better coordination between the national and local governments to avoid redundancies.
“[W]e have to be very careful [on] how we deploy what resources that we have. And again to maximize those resources we have to be in very close coordination, both the national government and local government,” he said.
“And that’s why it is extremely important that the local government and the national government work very, very closely so that we maximize all our efforts to alleviate the problems that our people face – the rising cost of food, fuel,” he added.
Marcos Jr. said it was only through LGUs that the national government could reach Filipinos at the grassroots level.
“Kaya’t ang nararamdaman ng taong bayan ay ‘yung ginagawa hanggang barangay level. Kung wala ‘yang mga ‘yan, walang nararamdaman ‘yung tao kahit na napakaganda ‘yung mga plano, napakaganda ng mga programa, hindi aabot. Kaya’t kailangan na kailangan namin ng tulong ninyo. We really need the help of the local governments to guide us,” the President said.
Among the officials present in the courtesy call were Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan and Vice Mayor John Marvin Nieto. John Ezekiel J. Hirro