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Sunday, February 23, 2003
Congress stalls plan to increase LGU funds, powers
By Karen M. Flores
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
IF THE Local Government Code has remained stagnant since it took effect more than 10 years ago, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said this is because Congress has been sitting on proposed amendments for two years now.
In a statement, Pimentel said the 152 “wide-ranging amendments” he filed in 2000 yet “have remained unfulfilled.”
Republic Act 7160, approved in 1991 with Pimentel as the principal author, is long overdue for amendment since it is already on its 11th year of implementation.
The “centerpiece” of the amendments is the proposal for an equal sharing of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) between the National Government and local government units (LGUs).
This means an increase of 10 percent in the LGUs’ IRA, which is most commonly a local government’s biggest source of income.
The National Government currently gets 60 percent of internal revenue taxes while provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays share the remaining 40 percent among themselves.
But other amendments are as pressing to LGUs these days as well.
Interference
During his visit to Cebu City last Thursday, Pimentel said these include answers to problems about the “interference of National Government in the fiscal and personnel management of LGUs.”
In an interview, he said the agencies most likely to “interfere” with LGUs are the Department of Budget and Management and the Civil Service Commission.
Changes to the code also need to look into the “continued lack of budgetary support from the National Government for the full implementation of devolved tertiary health services.”
Pimentel said this means funding support from the Department of Health for district hospitals.
Since he first assumed office in 1995, Gov. Pablo Garcia has been complaining that while the Province has been given powers over the 18 district hospitals in Cebu, the corresponding budget has not been devolved.
Pimentel said he is also proposing to shorten the “timeframe for the revision of real property assessments.”
The code currently provides that a revision of the assessed values of real properties be undertaken every three years, but the senator said he is proposing a shorter timeframe to improve the earning power of LGUs.
Anyway, if a local government feels that an increase in real property tax at a certain time is too much, it can always suspend the imposition of the new schedule of assessed values in the meantime.
“This bill is designed to further strengthen LGUs, assuring the growth and development of self-reliant communities throughout the country. The prolonged delay in its passage will therefore be detrimental to local communities,” Pimentel said in his statement.
(February 23, 2003 issue)
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