Decentralization Excessive centralization characterized governments in most developing countries.

But due to globalization, in the sense of increased economic interdependence, there is a need for decentralization. For the past twenty years, the impact of economic and social changes in the forms of liberalization, privatization and market reforms brought forth new demands on central governments, prompting them to reassess their limited capability to deliver services. Decentralization and Local Governance in the Philippines The Philippines is a unitary state. This means that there is no intervening level between the national and local government. Local governments are created, abolished, or their boundaries are modified and their powers are spelled out by national law, RA 7610 or the Local Government Code of 1991. There are three (3) tiers of local government. At the top are the provinces which act as intermediate levels of local government over clusters of municipalities and cities, which are the second tier. The third tier is the barangay which make up the municipalities and component cities. In a unitary system, local governments receive only the power given by the central government. This is in contrast to a federal system where the source of power is the bottom and the central government gets only what is supposed to be a set of residual powers given by the local units that constitute the federation. Based on the 1991 Local Government Code, decentralization may take three (3) forms: Deconcentration, which is the transfer of administrative functions from the national to field offices, aimed at decongesting the central office of matters that could be addressed at the lower levels. Devolution, which is the transfer of power and authority to lower levels of political or local government units. It is political in nature and has always been related to local autonomy. Debureaucratization, which is the transfer of powers to what is commonly called the civil society, which is made up of non-governmental entities like NGOs, Pos, as well as the private sector. Devolution. Under the LGC, the national government devolves to the LGUs the responsibility to deliver services formerly expected of the national government. Three major government services were fully devolved, namely the DOH (field health and hospital services and other tertiary services); DA (agricultural extension and on-site research) and DSWD (social welfare services).