BATANGAS CITY – Governor Hermilando Mandanas has called for an amendment to the proposed PHP 3.75 trillion National Budget for 2019 to implement the July 3, 2018 Supreme Court (SC) decision on the automatic release of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) to the Local Government Units (LGUs) after he led the petition before the high court.
Batangas provincial public information office chief Jenelyn A. Aguilera disclosed on Thursday that Mandanas is upbeat over the SC’s nod on the petition as the provincial government expressed jubilation with their “Ipinaglaban ng Batangueño, Pakinabang ng bawat Filipino” (a Batangueño’s fight, a benefit for every Filipino) tagline.
Aguilera said that Mandanas claimed that in implementing the SC decision, the IRA of the LGUs such as provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays for 2019 should be increased by about PHP200 billion.
Mandanas, based on the SC decision, said “that the collections of the Bureau of Customs, including tariffs, customs duties, value-added taxes, documentary stamp taxes, and excise taxes should be included in the IRA computation, which was not done by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in computing for the 2019 IRA.”
He added that the SC decision also confirmed that the LGUs have not been receiving what they should have legally received from 1992 up to the present.
“The total accumulated differential has already reached approximately PHP1.5 trillion. The collections of the BOC of the national taxes were not included in the 1992 up to the present computation of IRA,” he disclosed.
The Batangas governor urged that the reimbursement of the back IRA has to be made, in consultation with the LGUs and the Development & Budget Coordination Committee, which comprised the DBM, the Department of Finance, National Economic and Development Authority, Office of the President, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
As lead petitioner, Mandanas has proposed three possible ways on how the National Government can implement the SC decision such as the national government can borrow money; recast the National Budget, or do a combination of both.
Aguilera said that Mandanas is advocating for the second option of recasting the 2019 National Budget, wherein there will be no change in the total amount, no need for borrowing, but at the same time, fully implementing the existing laws on local autonomy.
She said that the governor also pointed out that basic services like Agriculture, Health, Social Welfare, and others, which have been devolved to the LGUs pursuant to the Local Government Code, can now be funded by the National Government, through increasing the IRA.
He said that this also translates to a corresponding reduction in the appropriation of involved National Line Agencies that still handle the funds of devolved basic services.
“This is the start of true Federalism. Strengthening the local autonomy is the essential element of true Federalism,” Mandanas underscored citing this approach will promote efficient, economical, and expedient governance.
Following the SC decision, Mandanas also said that the IRA mandate will now enable the LGUs, given their funds, to acquire their own CCTVs, ambulances, medicines, CT scans, MRIs, health centers, evacuation centers, barangay halls, farm-to-market roads, bridges, and many others, without having to request funding from the National Government in order to execute and implement these devolved basic services. (Saul Pa-a/PNA)
