By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet
Aligned with the administration’s thrust to champion sweeping reforms in government, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. issued Administrative Order No. 49 s. 2026, which is geared towards building up the financial capacity of local governance.
AO 49 calls for the reconstitution of the Inter-Agency Governing Board (IGB) overseeing the Local Governance Reform Project (LGRP), a joint initiative of the Philippine government through the Department of Finance (DOF) and Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) and the Asian Development Bank.
The LGRP seeks to reform property valuation policies, establish digital tax databases, improve LGU tax administration, and strengthen the capabilities of local assessors.
AO 49 moreover supports Republic Act No. 12001 (Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act); Section 5, Article X; and Section 17, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, and amends Administrative Order No. 40 s. 2021.
The President will sit at the helm of the reconstituted IGB, with the secretaries of the following agencies as its members:
- Department of Finance (DOF)
- Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDev)
- Department of Budget and Management (DBM)
- Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)
- Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)
The board also includes the Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner, the BLGF executive director, representatives from the leagues of provinces, cities and municipalities, and representatives from a non-governmental organization and the private sector.
AO 49 outlines some of the board’s functions: “Ensure the attainment of the following outputs of the LGRP within its implementation timetable: (i) strengthen institutional development and policy support for property valuation; (ii) implement a property tax valuation database and information systems; (iii) enhance real property taxation of selected LGUs; and (iv) professionalize local assessors and strengthen the capacity of LGUs;”
The IGB will be dissolved upon completion of the required LGRP outputs and submission of its final accomplishment report, unless the President dissolves it sooner; AO 49 takes effect immediately upon publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.
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