Guv to help villages in revenue allotment

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- After concentrating on health and infrastructure programs in her first term in office, Governor Lilia Pineda said on Sunday she will now be concentrating on helping poor villages augment their meager internal revenue allotment (IRA).

In an interview with Sun.Star Pampanga, Pineda said she is now studying the possibility of providing financial assistance to poor barangays to help them generate local enterprises and livelihood projects that would in turn help develop local commercial activity in the barangay.

“There should be sustainable programs and revenue-generating measures in barangays, which, because of not meeting government requirement, could not have a far better IRA share,” Pineda said.

She said a study of the needs of far-flung barangays will also be taken into consideration so that proper development programs will be put into place.

The governor said greater priority will be given to barangays in coastal areas and those that are not easily reached by vehicular traffic.

The governor added that the barangays will also be given the chance to train in fiscal management so that they will be able to maximize their IRA allotment.

Pineda also urged barangay officials to explore ways on priming and developing local enterprises so as to develop the business potentials of their respective barangays.

“We at the Provincial Government are always ready to help. However, the role of developing the barangays also rests on the collective shoulders of local barangay officials and their respective private sectors,” Pineda said.

Pineda said a low IRA share is not a reason for officials not to develop their respective barangays.

Section 284 of the Local Government Code of 1991 states that local government units have a 40-percent share in the National Internal Revenue taxes collected.

Of this amount, Section 285 provides that the country’s 80 provinces will get 23-percent share, the cities will have 23 percent, municipalities 34 percent and barangays 20 percent.

The same section in the Local Government Code provides that the share of each province, city and municipality shall be determined on the basis of the following formula: population - 50 percent, land area - 25 percent and equal sharing - 25 percent.