Parañaque now Philippines 5th richest city – DOF

MANILA, Philippines — Parañaque is now the fifth richest city in the country, earning P6.3 billion in local revenue generation in 2020, according to a report released by the Department of Finance’s Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) this month.

Niño Raymond Alvina, BLGF executive director, released the other day the national top 10 performing provinces, cities and municipalities in local revenue generation for fiscal year 2020.

Alvina said Parañaque surpassed the P4.8-billion locally sourced revenue (LSR) collections in 2019 by P1.5 billion this year.

The city treasurer’s office, headed by Anthony Pulmano, exceeded by 12.9 percent the targeted tax collection in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Alvina.

“Based on the data submitted through electronic statement of receipts and expenditures in the last quarter of 2020, the year-on-year growth in LSR of Parañaque has tremendously increased by 12.9 percent,” Alvina said.

Paranaque’s LSR of P6.3 billion includes real property and local business taxes as well as fees, charges and receipts from economic enterprises.

Toledo City in Cebu is the number one on the list of top-performing cities last year with year-on-year growth of 50.6 percent. In second place is Trese Martires City, Cavite with 23.3 percent; followed by Quezon City, 15.6; Meycauyan City in Bulacan, 14.2, and Parañaque, 12.9.

Quezon and Parañaque are the only cities in Metro Manila included in the top-performing cities in the country in terms of local revenue generation last year.

Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez commended Pulmano for exceeding the collection target in 2020 and for the office’s excellent performance in tax collection for the past seven years.

Olivarez attributed the high revenue collection to the city’s innovations in tax collection schemes, particularly the Online Payment Facility using ATM credit and debit cards through the facilities of UnionBank.

He noted that the increasing number of local and foreign investors and other businesses operating in the city before the pandemic also contributed to the hefty tax haul.

Pulmano said the adoption of the online services on land tax and miscellaneous payments “as we embrace in the new normal” helped a lot in the improvement of local tax collection in the city.