Health, education, agriculture and environment, roads and infrastructure, technology and security and social protection (HEARTS) projects of the local government units (LGUs) have been ensured as their share in the National Tax Allotment (NTA) has been increased.

Citing the 2019 Mandanas-Garcia ruling of the Supreme Court (SC), the Department of Finance (DOF) on Wednesday said LGUs’ share in the NTA has been increased to 40 percent of all national taxes, instead of those only collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

“This means greater capacity for LGUs to improve the delivery of essential services to their constituents and strengthen the government’s commitment to devolution under the Local Government Code of 1991,” the press release said.

DOF said around 43,634 provinces, cities, municipalities and villages received a total of P1.03 trillion in NTA this year, higher by 18.73 percent from the year-ago’s P871.38 billion.

LGUs in the National Capital Region that received the highest share include Quezon City (P8.53 billion), City of Manila (P5.35 billion), Caloocan City (P4.90 billion), Taguig City (P3.74 billion) and Pasig City (P2.61 billion).

Among the regions, Region 4-A received the biggest share at P122.68 billion in 2025, which is projected to increase to P141.15 billion next year.

DOF said the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is also being supported through an annual block grant of P83.42 billion in 2025. This will increase to P93.98 billion in 2026.

It said NTA for next year will increase by 15.07 percent to P1.19 trillion.