CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Following unfavorable response from the local government units in the country, the national government appeared to be changing its stand on the issue of 4.8 percent budget cut on the Internal Revenue Allotment of local government units next year.
This came as the Regional Director of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) issued a subsequent letter dated August 24 this year overriding the earlier issuance showing details about the 4.8 percent cut of IRA for the 2012 fiscal year as compared to 2011 budget.
DBM regional director Elisa Salon informed local officials of Candaba town, in particular, as early as July 4, 2011, that Internal Revenue Allotment allocation next year will be P109, 869, 940.
The said amount was broken down as follows; guaranteed share equivalent to the actual cost of devolved national functions/city funded hospitals as of December 1992 (P3,239,486), share based on population (P78,414,850.22), share based on land area (P13,095,056.17), equal sharing (P15,120,547.60).
In a recent development, Rudy Kabigting, Candaba municipal budget officer, disclosed that Salon sent a subsequent letter addressed to Mayor Jerry Pelayo stating that 2012 IRA in the said municipality has been adjusted to more than P112.1-million.
Kabigting said DBM explained that adjustment was made in view of the final entry of judgment issued by the Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the cityhood laws of the 16 cities of the country.
However, it was learned that Candaba town has a total of P115, 318,545 Internal Revenue Allotment for 2011 fiscal year.
It can be noted that Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo earlier told members of the Pampanga Mayors’ League that the 4.8-percent cut on the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) next year is a big challenge to all local government units.
To this, several mayors in Pampanga have expressed disagreement as they believed such initiative negates the essence of fiscal autonomy as mandated by the Local Government Code.
Some local chief executives are even worrying about the possible effects of 4.8 percent budget cut on the delivery of basic services to the people.