The LGU and You

The LGU and You

If you are a Filipino of a certain age, I bet you distinctly remember a time when there was no such term as the "LGU" when people wanted to refer to "municipal government." It was only after the Local Government Code was passed in 1991 that the acronym slowly became an everyday word. I bet you didn't know that the "LGU" or "local government unit" actually refers to three levels: province, city/municipality, and barangay.

You may also not realize that the LGU plays a significant part of your daily life as a resident. The work of the local government is so vast that it affects your life from day to day and even from birth to death, to put it bluntly.

Whether you like it or not, your life begins at the Local Civil Registry Office (LCRO) with the official recording of your birth – and ends in this particular office as well if, knock on wood, the inevitable comes.

If you hang around at the town plaza, buy the day’s needs at the wet market, or stop at the terminal for a bus/ jeepney/tricycle ride, the long hand of the LGU is at work through the Public Order and Safety Office (POSO), General Services Office (GSO), and Office of the Special Economic Enterprise (SEE).

We help take care of your health and nutrition (Rural Health Units and Municipal Nutrition Office) and ensure that you won’t fall ill from drinking water or from eating food sold in public (Sanitary Inspector). We make you feel safe and keep your travel orderly even if we need to install a lot of CCTVs for it (POSO). In case of emergencies, we are just one phone call away (#4357/Command Center). When natural calamity strikes, in particular, we try our best to be there for you 24/7 (Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office or MDRRMO, Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office or MSWDO, etc.).

We assist you in your farming, gardening, livestock, or fishery needs (Municipal Agriculture Office or MAO). We help you dispose of your trash and keep the town clean (Ecological Solid Waste Management Office or ESWMO). We build a lot of roads and other important infrastructures for you (Municipal Engineering Office).

If you are starting up a business, we make the process easier for you (Business One-Stop Shop). And if you already have one, you will have to go through several of us for permits/licenses/renewals (Municipal Planning and Development Office or MPDO, Zoning Officer, Engineering, RHU, Municipal Treasury Office, etc.). You will need to pay your taxes through us (Treasury). To know the exact amount, you will have to visit us, or else we visit you (Municipal Assessor's Office).

If you are looking for a scholarship or some funding for public school/education projects (Local School Board) or public education (public schools, from daycare to graduate school), or seeking local or foreign employment (PESO), or seeking free legal advice (Municipal Legal Office) we, too, can lend a hand. If you have special needs, like when you’re a senior citizen, solo parent, PWD, in a crisis situation and in need of counseling, or simply indigent, you can count on us (MSWDO, Mayor's Action Center).

If you want to put up a cooperative together with your group, we also have an office created for that (Municipal Cooperative Deveolpment Office). We are a willing partner to every accredited council and NGOs/CVOs/POs out there (CSO Desk, Sangguniang Bayan).

We keep you abreast of the latest developments in town (Public Information Office, Information and Communication Technology Office) and help you with your research or school assignments (Municipal Library). We even promote the local spots, products, and traditions (Municipal Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office), and help preserve the most significant bits and pieces of the past, in order for you to have something to be proud of, or something of a collective narrative and an identity you can call your own and thus give you inspiration to be the best you can be. (Municipal Museum).

There’s also something very basic that we do in the life of our town: lay down the local laws for your own benefit, or amend and update them as needed (Vice-Mayor’s Office, Sangguniang Bayan). Among other higher-order tasks we do are planning the fate of the town and zoning the land for particular usage (MPDO) and deciding on just about anything that affects the common good (Mayor’s Office, Administrator’s Office).

The rest of us do silent yet just-as-essential work (Municipal Budget Office, Municipal Accounting Office, Internal Audit Service, GSO, Human Resources Management Office, Bids and Awards Committee, ICTO, Municipal Motorpool, Municipal Slaughterhouse, Municipal Cemetery).

You’ll be surprised to know that, despite all that, a lot of things are not under our direct control or supervision, but we are certainly in constant coordination with our partners in other levels of government (barangay, provincial, regional, national) or even the private sector if necessary, especially if you need help in forming business ideas (Department of Trade and Industry/Negosyo Center), if you have concerns with your water supply (BayWad) or electricity (CENPELCO), if there is an incidence of crime (Philippine National Police) or fire (Bureau of Fire Protection) in your area, or if you need special financial assistance (Department of Social Welfare and Development of DSWD-Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Team).

Lastly, we don't operate in a vacuum. We assure you that there are overseers of everything we do (Department of the Interior and Local Government, Civil Service Commission, Commission on Audit, Office of the Ombudsman), to keep us on our toes in our delivery of public services to you.

(Note that there may be other public offices or agencies in your town (or city) that we in the LGU are not in direct supervision of, but are nonetheless part and parcel of government: Bayambang District Hospital (in the case of our town), Commission on Elections, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Philippine Post Office, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Social Security System, Land Transportation Office, TESDA, PhilHealth, DENR, DPWH, DOLE, DMW, GSIS, DOST, Philippine Army, Municipal Trial Court, etc.)

That’s how serious our work is, because our reason for existence is… none other than you. Because you put the ‘U’ in ‘LGU.’

Consider all of the above, too, as the long list of services that your taxes make possible. ...The length and breadth and depth of how the LGU makes each centavo you give goes a long way. ... How we make your tax contributions actually work for you and redound to everyone else's benefit.