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By Francis Earl A. Cueto Reporter
THE League of Cities of the
Philippines are up in arms over a new bill in the Lower House that
relaxes the stringent requirements of the Local Government Code in
the transformation of a locality into a city.
League President and Mandaluyong
City Mayor Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. said in a press briefing
that the Lower House never consulted them over House Bill No. 24,
authored by Zamboanga Sibugay Second District Rep. Ann Hofer, that
exempts capital towns of provinces from the annual income
requirement of P100 million to be qualified as a city.
The League, composed of 120
cities nationwide, expressed fear that their internal revenue
allotment (IRA) will decrease if Congress will pass the bill. The
mayors said that in 2007 alone, 16 towns were converted into new
cities. If House Bill 24 becomes a law, there will be 27 new cities,
which will further reduce the per capita IRA share of existing
cities.
The bill states, among others,
that “the capital towns of provinces without a city shall be
exempted from the annual income requirement of P100 million,”
Likewise, it stated “that capital towns of provinces where there
is no existing city shall be priority for conversion into component
cities…”
League members said that they
will stage a “Black Monday” on January 28, wherein employees of
their cities will be wearing black armbands. The Philippine flag
will also be flown at half-mast to express their opposition to the
bill.
“The cities will be in a
crisis. The cities will face extinction with this bill,” Abalos
said.
Abalos warned that a locality’s
delivery of basic services, which include health and education,
would be greatly affected by the bill’s passage. Likewise, cities
may have to undertake a massive retrenchment.
Lower allotment
for cities
A media presentation on the
effects on the bill cited as an example Sorsogon City, which was
supposed to get an IRA increase of P41.9 million if it was not
converted to a city, or a 15-percent increase from last year’s
IRA. However, after its conversion to a city, Sorsogon will now only
get an increase of only P8 million or a 3-percent increase. As such,
the city’s IRA is P33.8-million less because of its conversion to
a city.
Another example is Puerto
Princesa, which was supposed to get an IRA increase of P146.1
million before its conversion into a city or a 15-percent increase
from last year’s IRA. However, after conversion, the city will get
an increase of only P1.7 million or a measly 0.18-percent increase.
As such, the city’s allotment is P144.4-million less because of
its conversion to a city.
Abalos explained that in 1996,
the IRA per capita for Philippine cities is 20 percent higher than
that of the provinces and municipalities. Nine years later, the
situation has been reversed.
Today, the IRA per capita for
Philippine cities is now 30 percent lower than the allotment per
capita of provinces and municipalities, he added.
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