Thursday, July 10, 2008 City improves tax collection By Reynaldo G. Navales and Alejandro Tampus
THE Angeles City Government has improved its tax revenue collection in the first five months of the year amounting to P465 million which is 72 percent of the total tax collections in 2007.
During his State of the City Address (Soca) Wednesday, Mayor Francis Nepomuceno the City Government is “expecting around P500 million more in uncollected revenues in the second half of this year.”
“With this positive outlook, the city will operate with an approved budget of P1 billion. This will be the first time ever that our budget has hit the billion-mark and grow in just one year’s time,” he said.
“With a bigger budget, we can spend for more basic services to our people,” said Nepomuceno.
The city, he added, has undergone a transition and that 2007 was spent implementing changes through innovative projects to speed up public service as our administration promises to be a responsible, efficient, and accountable government ensuring the welfare of the Angelenos.
Based on the comparative report of revenue collections by the City Treasurer’s Office as of May 2008, the actual collections of the city is P464,829,728.33. This, amid the depleted cash reserve and a huge debt balance amounting to P361,086,147.61 left by the previous administration.
The Nepomuceno administration has already partially paid for the huge debt which had been reduced to P122.4 million for this year. The City Government is paying P10 million monthly amortization for debt servicing.
The bulk of the debt came from the two “white elephants,” which Nepomuceno referred to as the San Nicolas Public Market and the slaughterhouse. A debt of P309.8 million had been incurred by the San Nicolas Public Market which has a P2.7 million monthly amortization while the slaughterhouse incurred debt amounting to P44.7 million.
Rising from what the mayor described as a “man-made disaster”, Nepomuceno said the City Government under his administration immediately buckled up to work to solve the problems.
He said the rentals at the San Nicolas Public Market and the slaughterhouse will defray the monthly debt servicing incurred by the two projects. He also said the City Government has successfully negotiated with the Land Bank of the Philippine and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) on extending the amortization period.
Nepomuceno also said five out of the 16 infrastructure projects worth over P51 million had already been completed.
He identified these projects as the concreting of Palosapis Street in Barangay Sto. Domingo; Angel Street corner Francisco St. in Barangay Balibago; asphalt overlaying and construction/improvement of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory Building at Camp Tomas Pepito; construction of the Leoncia Bridge Spillway; asphalt overlaying along Arayat Boulevard in Barangay Pampang; re-roofing and improvement of the Pampanga Public Market (Phase 1); construction/improvement of Villar Gloria Covered Court in Barangay San Jose; and improvement of drainage system along Don Meliton and Don Juico avenues in Barangays Malabanas and Anunas.
On peace and order, Nepomuceno said the City Government gave new police patrol vehicles to the Angeles City Police Office (Acpo) consisting of two Toyota Innovas, four Toyota Vios, two Toyota Hi-Lux Pick-Ups, three motorcycles and two all-terrain vehicles. More vehicles were also awarded to the Bureau of Fire Protection, Civilian Security Unit and the Home Emergency and Response Office (Hero).
Nepomuceno said the vehicles increased police visibility and mobility and now serve as deterrent to crime, made evident with the arrest of law offenders in the past weeks that included the high-speed car-chase against a suspected drug peddler.
On education, Nepomuceno said around 360 students had been temporarily hired through the Public Employment Service Office (Peso) so they can earn extra money for the next school year while a scholarship program was launched for the poor but deserving students.
On shelter, he said: “Our firm advocacy is to uplift the social status of the marginalized sector and in enhancing our urban poor development program.”
The City Government and the Local Urban Poor Affairs and Housing Office (Lupaho) distributed 28 Certificates of Land Ownership to indigent families.
Nepomuceno said the City Government is also bringing the government to the people via the “People’s Day: Gobyerno sa Piling Mo” in 33 barangays where various government offices provide extension service desks to serve the public. Free medical and dental services, medicine, legal consultation and overseas call are being extended to the public.
On May 28, 2008, the mayor also inked the Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) to ensure harmonious relationship with the government workers assuring constant dialogue, care and workers’ development. The CNA empowered the City Government employees to be a part of the important process of decision-making to make them effective and efficient in the delivery of basic services to the public, said Nepomuceno.
On the issue of the San Nicolas Public Market, the City Government created the Market Advisory Committee which is tasked to look into the issues of debt servicing and the plight of the vendors. At least 178 stall certificates were awarded to the first batch of vendors on June 30, 2008 with a projected income of P288,000 per month or P3,456,000 million yearly.
The slaughterhouse was leased to Dealco Farms, Inc. for a period of 25 years on December 12, 2007 and the City Government is expecting to generate P200,000 monthly from its operations from nothing.
