Batangas Vice Governor Hermilando Mandanas and the Philippine Councilors League filed a petition with the Supreme Court on March 3, seeking enforcement of the automatic release of national tax allocations to local government units due to a reported P155.9 billion shortfall for 2026.
On Tuesday, March 3, Batangas Vice Governor Hermilando Mandanas along with the Philippine Councilors League filed a petition with the Supreme Court to mandate the automatic remittance of tax shares legally due to local government units (LGUs). The petition stems from a reported P155.9 billion shortfall in the 2026 tax shares, arising because Congress failed to pass the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) on time, leading to the reenactment of the 2025 budget by operation of law.
According to the petitioners, the national government computed the 2026 national tax allocation (NTA) based on the reenacted 2025 figures of approximately P1.034 trillion, rather than the original projection exceeding P1.190 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year. The petition names officials including Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, Finance Secretary Frederick Go, and Acting Budget Secretary Rolando Toledo, alleging they committed grave abuse of discretion by treating the NTA as a discretionary item within the GAA, subjecting it to presidential vetoes and legislative delays.
The petitioners argue that this practice violates the constitutional mandate for the automatic release of LGUs' rightful share of national taxes. Citing the prior Mandanas-Garcia Supreme Court ruling, they maintain that including the NTA in the annual GAA is 'unnecessary, if not superfluous.'
"Precisely because the inclusion of the LGUs just share in the General Appropriations Act is unnecessary, no constitutional or statutory purpose is served by including the computation of such share therein," the petition states. Furthermore, once collected and computed, the tax share's release should be a 'purely ministerial and mechanical act' not requiring further executive approval or legislative authorization. Embedding it in the GAA only exposes it to risks like reenactment or veto, which the Constitution sought to avoid through the automatic release mandate.
