Tuesday, November 04, 2008 P31-million loss in quarry collections noted
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Quarry collections continued to plunge as a staggering P31,035,000 year-to-year difference was noted on Monday by the License & Fees Division of the Provincial Treasurer’s Office (PTO) here.
This, even as the Capitol continued its all-out drive to check alleged anomalies in quarry operations which authorities believe is pushing down the hailed flagship program of the current provincial administration.
In its November 3 Quarry Situationer, the four-month collection total beginning July to October of 2007 was posted at P85,590,000, but in the same period this year, quarry collection was only P54,555,000 or P31-million short of its benchmark.
The statistics reveal that an average of P8 million in collection shortage is posted each month, and, as an official of the PTO said, “would continue to plunge as the year comes to a close unless immediate and proper measures are taken to curb factors causing the decline.”
The same situation could be noted on a month-to-month comparison of quarry collections, pointing to a downward trend.
During the last four months of this year (July to October), revenues from quarry operations were posted at P13.49 million, P12.88 million, P14.49 million and P13.905 million, respectively.
In contrast, collections in the same months last year was P24.41 million, P20.91 million, P21.18 million and P19.09 million.
Last month, Vice Governor Joseller Guiao and the Provincial Board (PB) expressed alarm over the continuing decline in quarry collections, saying there “must be more to it than the rainy season, the SCTEx and overloading of trucks.”
In a special session held by the PB, Guiao ordered the PTO and quarry monitoring units to explain in a formal report the drastic decline in collections and the big losses in revenues of the province’s flagship program.
Guiao said after a year, collections should take the upward trend and not otherwise because of the “experiences and learnings” of the past that should quarry collections up. But he said “It seems the other way around."
In the same session, Board Member Cris Garbo berated active members of the Biyaya A Luluguran At Sisikapan (Balas) for their “lame excuses and alibis” surrounding the decline in quarry collections like the rainy season, the SCTEx and Mabalacat-Bamban boundary dispute, as well as the low quarry fees charged by quarry operators in nearby Tarlac.
BM Tarcicio Halili, on the other hand, urged the PTO to look deeper into reports alleging that "recycling of receipts" is again rampant in the province’s 41 quarry monitoring checkpoints, since the practice is a big factor affecting the quarry collection lowdown. (JTD)
