INQUIRER Global Nation

MANILA—City mayors from the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) are up in arms over the drop in their internal allotment revenue (IRA) and over a House Bill that would lower the bar for capital towns seeking to become cities.

LCP president and Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos said the significant decrease in the cities' IRA was the result of the conversion of 16 towns last year.

This, along with House Bill 24 filed by Zamboanga-Sibugay Rep. Ann K. Hofer last July, which would allow the creation of 27 new cities, has prompted the LCP to convene an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss how to block the two threats against the IRA share.

fears

Abalos and other Metro Manila mayors, who called for a press conference yesterday, expressed fears that Hofer's bill would aggravate the cities' already dire financial situation.

In 2007, the 120 cities shared the IRA of P41.9 billion. Without the 16 new urban centers, the total 2008 IRA would be at P47.9 million. With the new additions, the 2008 IRA was computed at P43.9 billion.

According to the LCP, without the 16 latest additions, their IRA increase would be around 16 percent to 17percent. With the existence of new cities, the IRA share increase plunged to 3 percent.

The LCP president stressed that they are not against municipalities from becoming cities as long as they have the qualifications. Abalos said it's always nice to have a city in a province, but "let us be practical."

legality

The LCP, which is composed of 120 cities, has questioned the legality of the transformation of these towns to cities before the Supreme Court, saying they failed to meet the P100 million income and population requirements.

Abalos noted that there were some congressmen who pushed for cityhood just to gain points from their constituents. Bebet Gozun, another LCP official, said many of the new cities were converted just before the 2007 mid-term elections.

The group also asked the Budget department to withhold the release of the new cities' additional IRA pending the resolution of the case.

protest

On Monday, mayors from the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) will fly their city flags at half-mast and require city hall workers to wear arm bands to decry the cuts in their IRA share and Hofer's bill.

Abalos urged the Budget department to review the computation of the IRA share, noting that it is not "responsive" to the cities' needs anymore.

Abalos said the 2008 IRA was based on the 2008 census and did not consider the population growth in the urban centers the past few years.

"City governments have to provide services to their constituents as well as to the transient population that moves in during the day," Abalos said, noting that the cities are already experiencing the strains of urbanization.

He noted that by 2020, about 70 percent of the country's population will be in the urban centers.

"This has grave effect to all cities nationwide," Abalos said. He noted that the drop in their IRA would cripple the delivery of their basic services and the payment of their loans. It would also affect the salaries of their workers.

call

The LCP called on President Macapagal Arroyo to provide fresh funds to the existing cities to cushion the impact of reduced IRA. Abalos also urged for a "2 to 5 years of moratorium" on conversion and a re-computation of the IRA share.

"We need to do something fast because time is not on out side. We have a public to serve and their welfare is our top priority. All cities are adversely affected by this and we can't just let this happen. Millions of lives are at stake," Abalos noted.

The LCP said the cities that were most affected by the cuts are Davao and Puerto Princesa cities.

Davao City, the LCP said, was supposed to get additional P263.5 million in 2008. After the conversion, Davao City, will only get a P69.48 million increase.

Puerto Princesa in Palawan province was supposed to get P146.1 million or a 15 percent increase from its 2007 IRA. After the conversion, it will only get a .18 percent raise.

Aside from challenging the 16 new cities, the LCP is also in uproar over Hofer's bill.

Under Hofer's bill, a municipality can be exempted from the income requirement if it has a territory of at least 100 square kilometrers or a population of not less than 150,000.

In the bill's explanatory note, the author stressed that the bill, which would make it easier for capital towns to become component cities, would improve the lives of residents in the provinces.

"Such change of status will give them more autonomy and taxation powers and an increased share ion the internal revenue allotment. More importantly, cityhood will boost investor confidence and invigorate business climate," the HB 24 said.

The LCP mayors said the bill, which they described as "unfair" was new to them. They also noted that they were not informed of the bill nor were called to the hearings.

"We were caught by surprise," Abalos said, noting that he had to call an emergency meeting of the LCP to discuss the proposal. Abalos said they would ask the representatives coming from LCP member cities to block the bill.

Toby Tiangco, the mayor of Navotas City, said exempting capital towns from the P100 million income requirement is unfair to other cities that strived to make the mark. Navotas City was converted into city last year.

"Sana kung ano yung pinagdaanan naming, sana sundin din nila," Tiangco said.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said in an earlier interview that existing cities would lose an average of P2 million from their IRA share for every new city that would be added.

The IRA is the tax share of local government units, which get 40 centavos for every peso in taxes collected by the government. /INQUIRER