Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Baguio joins other cities v. IRA slash
THE Baguio City Government joined the nationwide protest of cities, which object to the bill reducing the requirements for towns wanting to convert into a city.
The Philippine flag at Baguio City Hall was flown at half-mast last Tuesday, in protest of House Bill (HB) 24, which seeks to amend a provision of the Local Government Code (LGC) that requires towns to have at least an annual income of P100 million, at least 150,00 inhabitants and/or a land area of at least 100 square meters.
HB 24 proposes that a town be exempt from the minimum requirement and if it conforms to the territorial and population requirements.
The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) protested the bill because the inclusion of additional cities would reduce the internal revenue allotment (IRA) of cities.
Last year, 16 towns were converted into cities. This brought the LCP to challenge their conversion at the Supreme Court.
HB 24, if passed, would result in the conversion of 28 towns into cities and would reduce the IRA of cities by P56 million.
In the case of Baguio, the city stands to lose P30 million in its IRA share this year.
Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr., who is in Manila to join the LCP, said for this year, the city is supposed to have P348-million share but because of the recent addition of 16 cities, only P316 million was allotted as the city's share this year.
