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Thursday, August 24, 2006
COA lists 2 Cebus among top earners
By Gingging A. Campaña
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Cebu City and Province landed in the list of top 10 earners among local government units in the country last year, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).
Cebu City was the sixth highest total net income earner among 117 cities in the country last year, with P511.07 million.
But the City also has the highest amount of liabilities at P5.95 billion, representing loans and payables. Its debts rose from only P3.62 billion in 2003.
Cebu Province, on the other hand, is the highest gross income earner among the 79 provinces, with P1.5 billion.
After Rizal
But it failed to surpass the net income of Rizal Province at P533.2 million. While Cebu Province recorded total expenses of P1.26 billion, Rizal spent less, at only P675.93 million.
Cebu Province made it to the top spot nationwide in gross income, but ranks seventh among provinces in terms of net income, with P247.07 million.
It also has the highest total assets at P6.22 billion and liabilities at P872.4 million.
Completing the top seven highest net income earners among provinces were Batangas (2nd), P341.66 million; Cavite (3rd), P339.36 million; Isabela (4th), P331.71 million; Pangasinan (5th), P297.67 million; and Bulacan (6th), P287 million.
The ranking, reported by the COA, was published as a full-page advertisement yesterday in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Manila tops
The list placed Manila as the highest total gross income earner among cities, with P7.4 billion.
The top five highest net income earners were Quezon City, P2.65 billion; Makati, P2.35 billion; Manila, P1.45 billion; Pasig, P1.05 billion; and Caloocan, P514 million.
What helped Cebu City, a highly urbanized city, reach the sixth spot nationwide are its total assets worth P9.95 billion, with the biggest bulk representing the South Road Properties (SRP).
Also, it has total expenses of P1.62 billion.
The balance sheet showed that Cebu City had the most loans among the 117 cities. COA listed its total liabilities at P5.95 billion.
SRP factor
Although the report did not state the nature of the liabilities, the COA 7, in its annual audit report on the City’s expenditures for 2005, showed that the City’s liabilities already include the loan package from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for the SRP.
Cebu City got a 12.315-billion yen loan from JBIC in 1996.
Other cities with huge liabilities include Manila, P4.38 billion; Quezon, P4.14 billion; Makati, P3.8 billion; Caloocan, P2.5 billion; Iligan City, P2 billion; Puerto Princesa, P1.2 billion; Davao City, P1.197 billion; Cagayan de Oro City, P1.2 billion; and Taguig, P1.1 billion.
In 2003, Cebu City topped the ranking of highest net income earners because COA did not include the 13 cities in the National Capital Region, which are mostly classified as special, not highly urbanized, cities.
Returns
Mayor Tomas Osmeña had said that the report will motivate the City to increase taxes and impose the long overdue revised market values of the real properties.
Some city officials, including SRP project manager Nigel Paul Villarete, are confident that once the City is able to sell the 240 hectares of the SRP to investors and settle its debts, it will post a huge income in the next 10 years.
He earlier said the City’s fiscal status is not based on the level of its debt but on its ability to pay and the returns that it gets out of that debt.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 24, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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