Batangas: Batangas Vice Governor Hermilando Mandanas and the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) have filed a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) to seek the full implementation of the automatic release of local government units' (LGUs) share from taxes.

According to Philippines News Agency, the petitioners submitted a 32-page document requesting the tribunal to clarify and enforce the constitutional mandate for the automatic release of the national tax allocation (NTA) to LGUs. They are urging the SC to nullify all 'acts, practices, policies and mechanisms' of the national government that require the NTA for LGUs to be subject to the General Appropriations Act (GAA) before their share in national taxes can be released.

The petitioners argue that the current practice, which treats the national tax allotment as an appropriation, undermines the state's policy to ensure local autonomy. They claim it subjects LGUs' rightful share to executive veto, constitutional reenactment, and budget execution controls, contradicting the automatic release mandated by the Constitution and the Local Government Code. They assert that the amount automatically due to LGUs is now PHP1.195 trillion under the 2026 GAA as an item.

The Mandanas-Garcia ruling by the SC in 2018 determined that the just share of the LGUs should be based on all national taxes, not just on those collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. This ruling, which became final and executory in 2019, mandates that LGUs receive 40 percent of all national taxes, including customs duties. At the time of the ruling, Mandanas was serving as the congressman of Batangas' Second District, and the late Enrique Garcia Jr. was the representative of Bataan's Second District.