Local gov’t officials back bills to raise IRA but DoF cautious
LOCAL government officials expressed their support on Tuesday to proposed measures which would increase the internal revenue allotment (IRA) from 40% to 50%.
“This will really empower local government units in terms of autonomy, fiscal autonomy,” said Malolos City, Bulacan Mayor Christian D. Natividad of the League of Cities.
The Senate committee on local government, chaired by Senator Juan Edgardo M. Angara, tackled Senate Bill Nos. 110, 810, 822 and 843, the so-called “Bigger Pie, Bigger Slice” bills.
The proposed measures seek to amend the Local Government Code in order to raise the share of the local government units (LGUs) from the national budget in the IRA from the present 40% to 50%.
The bills, authored by senators Aquilino L. Pimentel III and Ralph G. Recto, also propose to expand the sources of funds for LGUs by including the revenue of the Bureau of Customs (BoC) in the IRA pool.
Mr. Natividad cited a study by the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) that more than 130 laws enacted by the government remained unfunded, including those that involve LGUs.
“The league of cities supports this bill with the worry of again having the same pain as what the local government units experienced during the last enactment of the local government code that devised for the limitations from the share of the national taxes,” he said.
Senator Panfilo M. Lacson raised the issue that during the previous national budget deliberations some cities and municipalities had not utilized their IRA.
Lipa City Mayor Meynardo A. Sabili clarified that the cases only applied to highly urbanized LGUs that were not IRA-dependent, such as cities in Metro Manila.
He pointed out that Lipa City remained dependent on its IRA share.
“Our income is not sufficient,” he said.
Pamela P. Dizon, a director of the Bureau of Local Government FinanceDepartment of Finance (BLGF-DoF), said the agency would like to look into “the criteria of equalization — that is, equalizing revenue-raising capacity of LGUs” compared to their expenditure needs.
She also said that the proposal to increase the IRA could also be achieved by cutting down the obligations of the national government which the LGUs were directly benefiting from, such as the conditional cash transfer program.
She added that the DoF, which is seeking to boost LGUs’ capacity to raise their own funds, will eventually submit a position paper on the proposed measures soon. —