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LA TRINIDAD, Benguet: “If I were to decide, I want it monetized,
now.”
This was the reaction of Benguet Gov. Nestor
Fongwan on the government’s offer on ways that the local
government units could collect unreleased allocations of the
Internal Revenue Allotments (IRA) for the years 2001 and 2004.
Benguet stands to collect P23, 360,938 from the
said unreleased IRA.
The amount represents the IRA difference due to
the reenactment of the General Appropriations budget for 2001 and
2004.
According to Fongwan, it would be better to
monetize it now than to collect the fund in a staggered basis for
seven years.
Fongwan said prices will be increasing in the
next years, lessening the monetary value, so it’s best to avail of
the amount in lump sum, adding the money will then be part of the
province’s general fund.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued last
month an executive order allowing the release of the amount and
giving local governments the option to avail of their respective
shares, either through the monetization program or through yearly
installments from 2009 to 2015.
-- Larry Madarang
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