Thursday, January 31, 2008 City's IRA cut by P57 M By Danilo V. Adorador III
CAGAYAN de Oro City will lose some P57 million in its Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) this year, but officials said strong local revenue collections will cushion the cut's impact.
Johanna Ramiro, budget specialist at the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in Northern Mindanao, said Cagayan de Oro will be receiving only P616 million in IRA from the expected P673 million for 2008.
Despite the cut, however, Ramiro said the city will still see an increase of P30 million in IRA in 2008 compared last year.
City Administrator Grescelda Joson voiced optimism that strong local revenue collections will enable the city to offset the shortfall.
Joson pointed out that the city's IRA accounted only for 45 percent in the 2008 budget..
"So it's safe to say that we're less affected by this development. Basic services are still guaranteed. We are not dependent to the IRA unlike other cities," Joson told Sunstar Cagayan de Oro.
The government has scaled down the IRA by 13 percent when more towns were converted to cities.
Surigao City Mayor Alfonso Casurra, vice president of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), estimated the city will lose some P31 million.
The league has filed before the Supreme Court a motion for injunction to stop the DBM from releasing additional IRA to the newly created cities.
Casurra said Davao City will be the biggest loser with P194 Million in IRA cuts; Puerto Princesa, P144.4 million; Santiago City, P81.8 million; Iligan City, P68.8 million and Butuan City, P68.1 million.
In Caraga region, three former towns-Bayugan Cabadbaran and Tandag- were converted into cities last year. In Misamis Oriental, the town of El Salvador was also converted into a city.
The DBM said the newly-created cities will receive an additional P150 million each in their IRA this year. (With a report from Ben Serrano Caraga Correspondent)
