Quarry taxes keep Pampanga revenues high

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, PAMPANGA, Philippines — Rising revenues from quarry operations made Pampanga the second among the top 10 provinces with the highest locally sourced revenues (LSR) in 2023.

From third place in 2022, when its LSR reached P1.859 billion, Pampanga ranked second with an LSR of P2.335 billion in 2023, according to Circular No. 017 of the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) of the Department of Finance released in August. Rizal ranked first with an LSR of P2.5 billion.

The top performing local governments received their awards during the 37th BLGF Stakeholders’ Recognition held on Oct. 9 in Manila.

READ: Pampanga sand revenues breach P1B in 2023

The BLGF said LSR consists of real property tax, business tax, regulatory fees, service or user charges, receipts from economic enterprises, and others.

The thousands of tons of sand and stones belched out by Mt. Pinatubo’s 1991 eruption that covered gullies, slopes and rivers close to and at the foot of the volcano in Pampanga have provided the province with large amounts of local revenue, having been quarried and hauled for government and private projects.

From July 2019 to September this year alone, collections of sand tax and administrative fees already generated over P4.2 billion for the province.

Pampanga also kept its second ranking for income, including external sources like national tax allotment. —Tonette T. Orejas