Cebu City fails fiscal performance scorecard

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City is among the 26 cities and 14 provinces that failed in the 2012 Fiscal Sustainability Scorecard of the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Local Government Finance.

The Fiscal Sustainability Scorecard aims to institutionalize the regular publication of fiscal indicators and performance review of local government units in the spirit of accountability and good financial housekeeping.

Based on the reports submitted by local treasurers and assessors to the DOF and the BLGF from 2009 to 2012, the LGUs were evaluated in the areas of revenue generation capacity, local collection growth, expenditure management, updating of schedule of market values and reportorial compliance.

Cebu City was found to be delinquent and failed to submit its statements of receipts and expenditures for the three-year period as of the evaluation period.

In the preliminary performance review, 80 provinces and 121 cities covering 2009 to 2012 were covered. LGUs were rated as excellent, very good, good, average, needs improvement and poor.

For 2012, the city got a “poor” rating and a score of 3 out of 100 for revenue generation capacity, local collection growth and expenditure management, among others.

A poor rating means 50 percent lower than the average value.

The city was also “non-compliant” in regularly updating its Conduct of General Revision of Property and Schedule of Market Values, which is 10 years outdated.

The city also has no approved report on the submission of timely and accurate statement of receipts and expenditures as required in DOF Order No. 8-2011.

While, the city got an “average” rating in 2010 and rated “good” in 2011 with scores of 56.3 and 68, respectively.

However, it “failed” with its limitation and debt service with only P1.13 billion or 45 percent of the regular income of P2.5 billion in 2010.

For 2011, its dept service was only P596.4 million or 21.7-percent of the regular income of P2.7 billion in 2011.  Based on the rating system used for debt service ratio, the expenditures for debt servicing is less than or equal to 20 percent of the city’s regular income, thus, the city failed.

The finance department noted that the city’s P1.1 billion re-venue from real property tax, tax on business and other taxes; P366.7 million non-tax revenues from regulatory fees, user/service charges and income from economic enterprise had insufficient bases.

The scorecard is a regular fiscal and financial management performance assessment of all LGUs based on official quarterly and year-end reports submitted by all local treasurers and assessors to the BLGF. The report is published via iskor.blgf.gov.ph.

The initiative was developed by the BLGF and the finance department’s Fiscal Intelligence Unit.

Mayor Michael Rama refused to issue any comment while city treasurer Diwa Cuevas said she is yet to read the report.

“Di pa ko katubag kay wala pa ko kabasa ana,” she said.

Rama’s predecessor, Tomas Osmeña, claimed Rama has not been transparent in managing the taxpayers’ money because “the city is nearly bankrupt.”

He cited that the city used the P300 million fund for the Cebu City Medical Center to pay for the financial assistance to senior citizens even if P720 million was appropriated for the cash aid of at least 60,000 elderly in the city.

“He is hiding many things. Maybe, he is hoping no one would notice,” Osmeña said. — Kristine B. Quintas/JMO (FREEMAN)