Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
4 Regular Session

House BillNo,_ 2963

Introduced by Hon. WILTER “SHARKY” WEE PALMA II

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to create positions, called the Local Cabinet Secretaries, in the provinces,
cities, and municipalities which will be appointed by the Local Chief Executive. There are as
many local cabinet secretaries as there are number of departments under the local executive
branch. These Local Cabinet Secretaries serve at the pleasure of the Local Chief Executive and
enjoy a position of trust and confidence. The term of the Local Cabinet Secretary shall be
coterminous with that of his appointing authority.

The Local Cabinet Secretary serves as the head of the department, exercise such
powers, and discharge such duties and functions as expressly provided for under Republic Act
No. 7160, or the Local Government Code. The Department Heads under the present local
government structure shall become the Assistant Local Cabinet Secretaries. The Local Cabinet
Secretaries shall have a salary grade of one degree higher than that of the present department
heads.

The creation of such position ensures that the local policy making and planning of all the
executive departments will be aligned to the executive agenda of the local government unit. It
will also address the issue of the continuing decline of trust in government and the imperatives
for reform. As we all know, the decline of trust in government has been brought about by many
factors including inefficient and ineffective delivery of services among other things.

There were many cases in the past, as well as in this present administration, when a
newly-elected official assumed into office and the internal bureaucracy is proving to be a major
challenge to his leadership due to the employees’ loyalty to the previous chief executive and/or
they are just simply not performing well as a result of bad habit and prevailing culture of poor
work attitude in the office. It slows the internal operations of the government and it directly
affects the productivity of everyone, including the efficiency of the local chief executive.


‘As a consequence, local chief executives are forced to reassigning some employees to
other offices or putting them in a “floating status” so as to guarantee the smooth flow of work
in the department concerned. These certainly lead to filing of complaints, before the Office of
the Ombudsman and/or the Department of Interior and Local Government, against the local
executive officials by those employees who first and foremost failed to heed the call of the local
chief executive for full support and cooperation.

Given that the local chief executives are operating on a limited length of tenure, it is
vital that everyone in the local government service are aligned with the vision of the local chief
executive and are committed to fully support his strategic agenda, It is also very critical that the
heads of offices and the local chief executive have a good working relationship and mutually
trust each other's decision and capacity.

Through the creation of a Local Cabinet Secretary post, it will give the local chief
executive the guarantee to come up with responsive and timely plans, programs, projects and
services for the community by strategically working together with executive departments of the
local government unit. Poor public perception towards government remains to be a challenge
for everyone and restoring people's trust is an equally important concern. Trust is upheld when
a public official is brought to office through a democratic process such as election; however, the
more important challenge is how to sustain public trust once the local elected official already
holds the responsibility and the mandate to serve. One of the best ways to do that is to have a
fully functional and responsive government that is not impeded by any internal bureaucratic
problem caused by erring employees and dysfunctional structure.

Thus, in view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

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ATPY- WILTER “SHARKY” WEE PALMA II
4 District, Zamboanga Sibugay


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Philippines

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
1 Regular Session

House Bill No, 2963

Introduced By Hon. WILTER “SHARKY” WEE PALMA II

AN ACT
CREATING LOCAL CABINET SECRETARY POSITIONS
IN THE PROVINCES, CITIES AND MUNICIPALITIES,
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in the
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared the policy of the
State to enable the Local Government Units to exercise the powers and discharge
the duties and functions expressly and impliedly granted, as well as powers
necessary, appropriate or incidental thereto for the efficient and effective
governance. The State grants to every Local Government Unit the inherent power
to design and implement its own organizational structure and staffing pattern;
Provided however, the LGU concern shall take into account the service
requirements and its financial capacity; and, Provided finally, that the LGU adopts
the minimum standards and guidelines set forth by the Civil Service Commission.

SECTION 2. Definition of Terms. — For purposes of this Act, the terms:

a) Local Chief Executive shall refer to the Governor, City Mayor or Municipal
Mayor.


b) Department Heads shall refer to the appointive local officials common to all
municipalities, cities and provinces prescribed under Title V of Book II of
Republic Act No. 7160, EXCEPT the Secretary to the Sanggunian;

SECTION 3. Qualifications. - No person shall be appointed Local Cabinet
Secretary of the Department unless he possesses all the qualifications of a
Department Head prescribed under Title V of Book II of the Local Government
Code.

SECTION 4. The appointment of the Local Cabinet Secretaries hereof, shall
be optional to the respective Local Chief Executive. The Local Chief Executive may,
at any time within his/her term, appoint a Local Cabinet Secretary of a
Department. In the event that the Local Chief Executive opts not to appoint a
Local Cabinet Secretary for the Department, the existing Department Head shall
act as the OIC Secretary of the Department.

SECTION 5. Compensation. — The appointive Local Cabinet Secretary shall
have a Salary Grade one (1) degree higher than the Salary Grade received by the
existing Department Heads of the Local Government Unit concerned.

In the event that the Local Chief Executive opts not to appoint a Local
Cabinet Secretary of a Department, the existing Department Head shall act as the
OIC Secretary of the Department and shall retain his/her Salary Grade status.

SECTION 6. In the event that the Local Chief Executive fails to appoint a
Local Cabinet Secretary before the end of the of the calendar year, the allocation
for the compensation of such Local Cabinet Secretary shall revert back to the
general fund of the LGU and shall be considered as savings.

SECTION 7. Appropriation. - The Department of Budget and Management,
in coordination, cooperation and consultation with, the Department of Interior
and Local Government, Office of the President, and all other concerned agencies,


shall submit to Congress the necessary budgetary estimates to properly
implement the provisions of this Act. Such estimates and other amount as may be
needed for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included in the
Annual Appropriations Act, of the city or municipality where the barangay is
located, in the calendar year following the implementation of this Act.

SECTION 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The Department of
Budget and Management, in coordination and consultation with the Department
of Interior and Local Government, Office of the President and other agencies
concerned, shall promulgate and adopt such rules and guidelines as may be
necessary for the proper implementation of this Act.

SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules
and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are
hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 10. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days
after its publication in a national newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,