Institutionalizing Inter-Local Cooperation in BARMM: Legal Foundations, System Gaps, and a Pathway Under the Bangsamoro Local Governance Code

Abstract

Inter-local cooperation (ILC) has long served as a pragmatic governance response in the Philippines, enabling local government units (LGUs) to address policy challenges that transcend administrative boundaries. Yet national experience under Section 33 of the 1991 Local Government Code shows that cooperation has often remained voluntary, procedurally thin, and dependent on Memoranda of Agreement rather than on institutionalized legal personality, pooled fiscal authority, and durable governance systems (Republic of the Philippines 1991; DILG, NEDA, and GIZ 2010; Miels and Mayer 2025). This article examines the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as a case of subnational legal innovation following the enactment of the Bangsamoro Local Governance Code (BLGC) in 2023 (BAA 49, 2023). Drawing on documentary analysis and national ILC experience, the study analyzes how the BLGC reconfigures statutory authority for inter‑LGU cooperation and why BLGC‑aligned institutions have not yet consolidated in routine practice. The findings show that the BLGC provides one of the most explicit statutory foundations to date for horizontal cooperation – authorizing joint organizations, shared authority, and multi‑stakeholder participation – yet inter‑local cooperation in BARMM remains largely MOA‑based at present, reflecting an early, pre‑institutionalization stage (BAA 49, 2023; Miels and Mayer 2025). Interpreting this as reform sequencing rather than policy failure, the article demonstrates that rules‑in‑form are in place while the rules‑in‑use required for implementation – procedural clarity, pooled fiscal systems, organizational capacity, and integration into regional governance – are still being developed (Ostrom 1990; Pierson 2000; Mahoney and Thelen 2010). In doing so, the study reframes early implementation gaps as expected features of institutional transition and highlights the BLGC’s broader contribution to modernizing the legal foundations of inter‑local cooperation beyond Section 33, offering insights relevant to decentralization reform and intergovernmental governance in the Philippines.