Bohol mayors warn IRA cut to inflict harm on LGUs

TAGBILARAN CITY ,Philippines  - Some mayors of Bohol have warned on the adverse effect of the reduction of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for each local government by next year.

This reaction came after the Provincial Budget Office said a Department of Budget and Management's Memorandum Circular No. 65 said that an IRA cut down will be about 4.8 percent.

The bases for such action were still unclear, not even to the members of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines themselves prompting some of them to react.

Mayor Leoncio Evasco of Maribojoc town, for one, said he was not in favor of the IRA cutback for various reasons while Mayor Fortunato Abrenilla of Jagna, a former NEDA director, told The FREEMAN that the move "is not congruence with" the policies on IRA.

Abrenilla said that IRA should not be reduced at the expense of the LGUs, and supposedly it would even be increased.

Evasco, during the Small-Medium Enterprises Summit last week, shared his town's gains and best practices in governance, but warned that the reduction of IRA for next year would be non-sense on the following grounds: 1) DBM always asked for effectivity of salary increase it issued; 2) Magna Carta for workers, particularly on health; 3) the increase of the cost of basic services and commodities such as power and water.

He said the Magna Carta may be good for workers but health and other workers covered by certain magna cartas would also be at risk for working in hazardous situation.

Both mayors differ in treating the IRA concern. Abrenilla said that he will bring it to the attention of the LMP when it convene soon, but Evasco seemed to have a 'cold shoulder' on LMP-Bohol chapter citing its alleged inability to muster a quorum on its monthly meeting.

Evasco said the result of this IRA decrease would be no more allocation left for the an LGU's capital outlay for procurement or acquiring of equipment, infrastructure and facilities.

Mayor Jose Nicanor Tocmo of Corella town, for his part, said the IRA cut will definitely affect the 2012 annual budget of the municipalities. He said he will make a round to the barangays to inform them of this development, and may advice them to base their 2012 annual budget on the 2010 annual budget.

Tocmo explained that IRA cut down for 2012 was based on the 2009 level, when the country succumbed to recession that hit worldwide.

The LGUs usually jack-up their respective annual budgets by at least 10 percent to meet the increasing needs and development of their respective turfs.

Almost all LGUs in the province are IRA-dependent and, without this, they, especially those 5th or 6th class towns, will probably collapse, said the mayors.

With the IRA cut, Jagna town, for example, would be getting only P46,156,988 instead of P50,329,515; Maribojoc would have P30,971,635 instead of P33,773,565; and Corella would get only P22,254,398 instead of P24,271,330.