by Antonio M. Ajero
– Biggest loser is Davao City
– But Mati City gains P316 M
LOCAL government units in the Davao region made up of 43 municipalities and five cities in four provinces will lose a total of P1.1 billion in their budgets next year, mainly due to two reasons.
These are the huge reduction in the LGUs’ budgets in 2011 brought about by the country’s low tax collections in 2009, and the creation of 16 new cities, according to regional director Achilles Gerard Bravo of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in Region 11.
The region’s aggregate appropriation this year is P11.5 billion, Bravo said. However, this will go down to only P10.9 billion next year.
The only gainer in the region is Mati by virtue of its creation as a city together with 15 other former municipalities in various parts of the country.
As a city, Mati will have an IRA of P492,659, 489 million next year, up by P316, 624,940, from its IRA share this year of only P176 million, Bravo said.
Mati’s creation into a city also resulted in the decrease of the region’s number of towns from 44 to 43.
The 16 new cities raised the number of cities sharing in the IRA to 138, in effect reducing the shares of the 122 old cities.
The five original cities in the Davao region –Davao, Digos, Panabo, IGaCoS (Island Garden City of Samal), and Tagum– will lose a combined amount of P589.7 million in IRA shares. Of this, Davao City is the biggest loser at P359,965,125 from P2.757 billion in the current year to P2.397 billion in 2012. Digos will lose P59.5 million, Tagum P57.1 million, Panabo P56.9 million and IGaCoS P56.1 million.
The DBM official told Edge Davao that leaders of the affected LGUs in the region as in the rest of the country have to be creative by adopting measures designed to cushion the impact of their reduced income next year.
“Kanya-kanyang diskarte na yan para magtipid (each to its own belt-tightening measures),” Bravo said, adding that the general idea is for the LGUs to prioritize their expenses.
“Siyempre, ang pinakamagandang paraan ay palakihin ang kanilang (Of course, the best way is for the LGUs to increase their) income through vigorous and honest to goodness tax collection,” the DBM regional director said.
