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Friday, November 18, 2005
Davao Sur guv denies neglecting province
DAVAO del Sur Governor Benjamin Bautista Jr. vehemently denied accusations he is neglecting infrastructure development projects in his province, which prompted nine mayors to declare a tax revolt against the Provincial Government.
In a prepared statement, Bautista dismissed the controversy created by the resolution submitted by the League of Municipal Mayors of Davao del Sur expressing their intention not to remit the tax collections of their respective municipalities to the province.
This is in protest against the Provincial Government for allegedly not attending to the infrastructure needs of their barangays.
Bautista said "records will speak for the truth."
"If we are to trace back the projects we have given to all municipalities of Davao del Sur, no less than P6.6 million of financial assistance has been given to the municipalities and barangays in 2004, while about P3 million or even more for this year," Bautista said.
The province had also given P1,391,390 total worth of school projects in District 1 for 2004, while P858,285 for District 2 municipalities.
"And as of April 2005, P1,057,000 of various school projects had been implemented in various schools in District 1 of Davao del Sur, while about P1,295,000 of various school projects were given to the municipalities of the 2nd district of the province," he said.
As for the road network programs, the governor claimed that the new fleet of heavy equipment obtained by his administration caused to expand its accomplishments in infrastructure projects in almost all municipalities.
"Without our heavy equipment how can the municipality of Bansalan accomplish all its Tulay ng Pangulo projects without the support of the Provincial Government," Bautista said.
He said the same support had been given to other municipalities like Sta. Maria who received more or less, P2 million assistance from the province to finish its Mamulawan Bridge.
Other municipalities like Kiblawan, the heavy equipment of the province was also deployed to the area for almost 6 months hoping that all its provincial and barangay roads will be rehabilitated.
As of now, the heavy equipment of the province are servicing the municipality of MalAlag without even asking for rental fee upon request of their mayor.
The municipal treasurers in all municipalities of Davao del Sur expressed last Tuesday that they will not support the resolution submitted by the LMP.
According to provincial treasurer Abel Guiñares "the MTOs know that the municipal LGUs don't have the right to hold the tax collections because they were only deputized by the Provincial Government thru the office of the Provincial Treasurer to collect taxes."
"Besides they also expressed their sentiments over the possible effect of non-remittance of tax collections, after all, this is the source of the salary of the locally paid teachers of various schools in their respective municipalities," Guiñares said.
The Division Office of the Department of Education in Davao del Sur also expressed their concern over the issue, because their office is solely dependent on the financial assistance given to them by the Provincial Government.
Bautista said without the cooperation of the local chief executives of the municipalities their operations will probably be hampered.
Bautista is, however, still confident this misunderstanding will still be patched up.
"It's just a matter of proper communication and enough understanding from both sides," he said.
Bautista said despite the controversy he will however continue focusing on the development of the barangays.
As a matter of fact, in next year's budget, the governor again allocated no less than P20M for Barangay Development Program, P3M for LGU assistance, another P9M for Roadnetwork Projects, P2M for Livelihood Program, P1.5M for livestock and Poultry Program, and P3M for Provincial Philhealth Card Program para sa Masa.
Bautista said he believes that what is important is to be able to deliver effectively and efficiently the basic services to the people, and from their real development can be obtained. (BOT)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (November 18, 2005 issue)
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