Amendment of Local Gov’t Code urged

MANILA, Philippines—Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo on Friday pushed for changes to the Local Government Code that would give provinces, towns, cities and barangays a 45 percent slice of the national revenue pie, up slightly from 40 percent.

He said the Department of the Interior and Local Government would champion a bill pending in Congress to enact the amendment, noting that a plan to review the law, which gave local government units (LGUs) more powers and resources, has been in the works since 1996.

Robredo said increasing the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of the local governments was long overdue, noting that the LGUs were at the front lines of the government in delivering basic services to the citizens.

Under the code, 40 percent of central government revenues collected three years before the year of distribution shall be transferred back to LGUs as their share of the IRA.

The IRA is then divided among the LGUs in two stages— first, distributing the total IRA to four pools (provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays), and second, distributing the fund according to a formula based on population, land area, and equal sharing.