THE RELEASE LAST February by the executive branch of the P57.88 billion local government support fund (LGSF) has been labelled by budget watchdog groups as an LGU pork of President Marcos designed to bolster the administration’s candidates for the 2028 presidential polls.
Right now, economist Cielo Magno urged the government to set clear rules for allocating these special funds to local governments to prevent them from becoming tools for political patronage ahead of the 2028 polls, the Inquirer reported.
Magno, a former undersecretary of the Department of Finance, said the growing LGSF should not be distributed at the discretion of the executive branch but that Congress must set a clear framework and parameters for how they should be used including for poverty alleviation, risk and vulnerability.
But if used for LG infrastructure, these projects should be clearly outlined in the development plan of the recipient LGU and must have implementation-ready major projects that can really contribute to economic development, Magno explained.
Magno said the P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027 submitted by the executive to Congress is “very politically significant” for the Marcos administration as it would be the last full-year spending plan of Marcos Jr. before the 2028 presidential derby, giving the government one final year to deliver programs that could shape his political legacy and influence the succeeding administration.
Magno said Marcos’ use of the LGSF could create the impression that the administration is responsible for the money LGUs receive.
“Obviously, that’s campaigning in favor of the administration, or at least making the administration look good to our local governments,” she noted.
Marcos and Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, among other high-ranking Cabinet members, have been going across the country to distribute LGSF to different LGUs under the Marcos administration’s “Bawat Bayan Makikinabang” program since its launch in February.
According to Marcos, the government has accelerated and streamlined the release of the LGSF to every requesting LGU to effectively address the urgent needs of their communities.
As of May 31, data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that P35.45 billion, or 61 percent of the LGSF for 2026, had been released to LGUs. The DBM issues local budget circulars on the guidelines for the release and utilization of the LGSF.
In general, the LGSF shall be used for projects to be identified and implemented by LGUs based on a menu of programs enumerated in the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA), especially for food security, health, education, infrastructure, and livelihood.
The Marcos administration has proposed a record-high LGSF of P58.32 billion under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP). This amount is higher than the P57.88-billion LGSF in the 2026 national budget, which was more than double the P23 billion LGSF in 2025.
The bulk of the proposed LGSF in 2027 is allotted for the P37.49-billion Financial Assistance to Local Government Units, the same as the funding under the 2026 national budget, to fund a wide array of projects, including the construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure.
About P10.3 billion, down from P11.2 billion in 2026, of the LGSF will be used for the Growth Equity Fund, which will be disbursed as financial assistance for poor, disadvantaged, lagging, and low-income LGUs, and LGUs that experience fiscal gaps due to the ongoing devolution process.
Another P9.74 billion, up from P8 billion in 2026, is allotted for the Support to the Barangay Development Program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac); and P1 billion for Support and Assistance Funds to Participatory Budgeting, mainly for the construction, expansion and upgrading of water supply systems and climate-smart evacuation centers.
Budget watchdogs have flagged the lump-sum LGSF, calling it the “LGU pork,” which they claimed may be used as a tool for political patronage and control by the administration.
They cited the national government’s assistance to LGUs, which should be lower following the 2019 Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court that expanded the LGU shares to include all tax collections of the national government, not just those from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The LGSF is on top of the automatic appropriation of P1.32 trillion for the share of LGUs from national tax collections, or National Tax Allotments (NTA), for 2027.
Concerns have also been raised that funds placed under the executive department could be misused by unscrupulous officials or wielded to gain political favor and reshape alliances, particularly with Vice President Sara Duterte having declared her intention to run for president in 2028.
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio earlier said the increase in the LGSF was a “clear tactic” by the Marcos administration to win over opposition figures, bolster its position in the upcoming barangay elections, and lay the groundwork for 2028.
Tinio also criticized the LGSF during last year’s budget deliberations, arguing that the 2026 budget still contained “pork barrel” for local governments, effectively turning public funds such as the LGSF into political tools to reward allies and punish opponents.
The President, last February, ordered the direct release of the P57-billion LGSF coinciding with the launch of his “Sa Bagong Pilipinas, Bawat Bayan Makikinabang: program in Malacanang.
The program aims to raise NGs support for all LGUs by making local projects “felt immediately and equitably across every community.”
Marcos noted that the 2026 national budget has allocated the largest Local LGSF in the country’s history at P57.8 billion.
The fund includes the Financial Assistance to LGUs (FALGU) amounting to P37.4 billion, the Growth Equity Fund (GEF) totaling P11.3 billion, the Support to the Barangay Development Program for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict amounting at P8 billion, and the Support and Assistance Fund to Participatory Budgeting worth P1 billion.
He said the LGSF serves as the “bridge between the national government and local communities” by allowing LGUs to build necessary projects, including farm-to-market roads, renewable energy infrastructure, school buildings and evacuation centers.
It would also address the long-standing issues on the disbursement of LGSF, such as the slow pace of the downloading of the funds to requesting LGUs. Funds were released only after the local government had submitted all the requirements for the proposed project,” Marcos said.
“It cannot be denied that the process was sometimes difficult and slow—and at times, the request would even get lost especially for smaller and more remote LGUs,” he observed.
“Beyond that, we have accelerated and streamlined the release of the LGSF to every local government. We did this in recognition that people’s needs—no matter how small or how large—cannot wait,” he added.
He asked the people to get involved by monitoring the status of LGSF-funded projects in their localities.
During the program, Marcos handed over the FALGU Rice Approval Letter to officers of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), and League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP).
Of the releases, 50 percent is proposed for a nationwide rice distribution program for identified families to receive 10 kilograms of rice for six months every year.