Friday, March 09, 2007 P15B more for LGUs By Jeanette P. Malinao Sun.Star Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday announced the additional P15 billion for the local government units’ (LGUs) share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and promised that the amount will be released in full.
Unlike the previous years when the National Government withheld a certain percentage of the IRA share, the full amount will be automatically released to the LGUs this time, the President said.
She cited the increase in IRA as one of the results of the country’s steady economic growth, an achievement that she related to the upcoming elections.
“When the economy is doing well, it is easier to get the continued support of the people,” Arroyo said in a speech before councilors from all over the country who are in Cebu for their end-term national assembly.
She said the national assembly is “most timely” especially since the councilors are either seeking reelection or vying for higher positions in the May 14 polls.
Arroyo said she will leave the campaigning to the candidates as she will be busy focusing on her eight objectives for 2008.
“You will be campaigning yourself so into your hands I commend the fate of Team Unity,” she added.
The Philippine Councilors’ League (PCL) national assembly is the first activity to be held at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit last January.
The councilors, who arrived in Cebu from different regions yesterday, were praised by the President for being the “front liners of change.”
With the increase in the IRA share, Arroyo said the local government units will be bearing the fruits of the “painful steps” that the government took in raising revenues, including the increase in the value added tax.
The local governments will now have more money to invest in job generating projects, education, health and infrastructure for the people, she added.
Apart from the additional P15 billion, the National Government earmarked an initial P151.6 billion for the LGUs’ IRA share based on the 2006 reenacted budget.
Arroyo said the Philippines’ economic growth was possible not only because of the National Government’s political will but also of the LGUs.
She said that for the first time in Philippine history, the country posed an “uninterrupted” economic growth for 24 quarters, which drove “the political noise to the background.”
In previous years, the LGUs had to go to the Supreme Court to lobby for the release of the full amount of their IRA share. But Arroyo assured that this will not happen again.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, who accompanied Arroyo and who also spoke before the councilors, said she hopes the CICC will provide the “proper atmosphere for charting our shared future as a nation.”
“May the spirit in which this convention center was built inspire you to dare to dream and to achieve things no one ever thought we were capable of achieving,” Garcia told the league.
The PCL will hand out today the outstanding councilors of the Philippines award and the awards for outstanding city and municipal councils.
