Councilors’ League rejects IRA cut

The cutting of the internal revenue allotment (IRA) for local government units goes against local autonomy, which is the foundation of the Local Government Code of 1991, the head of the Metro Manila Councilors’ League said yesterday.

MMCL president and Muntinlupa City Councilor Raul Corro said the 1987 Constitution also ensures local autonomy to LGUs "to make them self-reliant communities and effective partners in the attainment of national goals."

In a resolution created by Muntinlupa City Council yesterday, Corro said "local autonomy would be meaningless without fiscal autonomy and the proposal to withhold P20 billion from the funds will definitely cause undue damage to the 79 provinces, 115 cities, 1,495 municipalities and 41,932 barangays in the country."

LGUs, he noted, will greatly suffer from the IRA reduction because the current budgetary requirements are heavily dependent on the fund, which comes from the national government.

"It will impair delivery of basic and essential services, like education, health and social services," Corro told The STAR in a phone interview.

The MMCL president, however, clarified that their oppositions to the proposed IRA cut did not mean that they no longer support President Arroyo’s call for austerity to help the country’s struggling economy recover.

"We support the Malacañang’s call for austerity pero di dapat IRA ang pagdiskitahan nila," Corro said.

He said their 240 members in all 17 cities and municipalities are set to submit their respective resolutions, which would be corroborated before they submit it to Congress and Malacañang.

Earlier, the Metro Mayors’ Council announced its opposition to the proposed IRA cut. — Edu Punay