A significant increase to the Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) of Puerto Princesa City and all other local government units (LGUs) are expected as a result of the Supreme Court (SC) ruling increasing the IRA.
Mayor Lucilo R. Bayron said that the city’s IRA may increase from P 1.8 Billion to P5 Billion by 2022.
On April 10, 2019, the SC affirmed with finality that the ‘just share’ of LGUs must be computed and sourced from all national taxes and not just from the national internal revenue taxes. With this, there is an IRA increase due to the inclusion of the Bureau of Customs collection of national taxes, including tariffs and custom duties. All LGUs are also set to receive the P1.5 trillion representing IRA backpay from 1992.
“Ngayon ay may ini-expect na windfall ang mga LGUs. May darating na pondo. Ito yung sa Mandanas Case. Nag-file ng kaso kasi sabi ni (Batangas) Governor Mandanas na kulang ang binibigay na IRA ng national government sa LGU at nanalo ang kaso sa Supreme Court,” Mayor Bayron explained.
He said that other cities especially highly urbanized cities outside Metro Manila like Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro have maximized in flexing its economic muscle that resulted to widespread economic activities and development in these cities. While, he admitted that Puerto Princesa is a little bit behind, in terms compared with these nearby cities, he challenged the city officials, employees to work hard for the city to reach greater heights of economic progress.
Mayor Bayron emphasized that there is no need to wait for the increase of the IRA but rather the city government should maximize the use its available resource to pursue with its development programs and this may be augmented later during the release of the new IRA.
He explained that since other cities like Iloilo and Bacolod have maximized its potentials, they are already considered very progressive cities in the country.
“Hihintayin pa ba nating ma-kompleto ang ating gasolina? O unahan na natin o tayo na lang ang naiiwan kasi tumakbo na sila,” Bayron asked.
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