126 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy, Second Edition devolved to them. The era when local government ofcials would have to beg for more resources from the central government therefore ended with the passage of the 1991 Local Government Code. In simple terms, LGUs had more money than they used to have. Table 5 shows the total amount of IRA relative to the total national budget while Figure 5 shows the annual percentage change in IRA. The proportion of the IRA to the total budget stabilized at an average of 17% in the second decade (2002 to 2011) compared to an average of close to 14% in the rst decade of decentralization, and is at about 15% under the last four years of the Aquino administration. As Figure 5 indicates, the annual average share of IRA to the total budget from 1993 to 2016 is at 14.4%. Table 5. Total IRA, National Budget and % of IRA to Total Budget (in billions PHP and %) 1992-201612 Figure 3. Annual Increase of Internal Revenue Allotment 1994 to 2016 In %