IRA slash row: What gives?

Last weekend, Senate President Franklin Drilon and Sen. Manuel Villar allayed fears of local government units that their Internal Revenue Allotments (IRAs) would be slashed.

They pointed out that this is a remote possibility unless the President declares a state of "unmanageable budget deficit."

"I don’t think she has any plans to make such a declaration at this point. That is why we must exert an effort to prevent an unmanageable deficit," Drilon said.

Well and good. At least, we can expect leaders of local government units to rest for a while from lobbying for the preservation of their IRAs.

Suddenly, however, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia disclosed during the weekend that the United League of Local Government Units is due to meet in Manila this week to hammer out a united stand on the issue.

But he also hinted that the League of Cities of the Philippines had agreed to get only 50 percent of the projected increase in their IRAs next year.

In short, the ULAP meeting at the Century Park Sheraton in Manila tomorrow aims to come up with a united stand on the issue.

ULAP is the organization of all major leagues in the country, including the League of Cities, League of Municipalities, League of Barangays, Vice Mayors’ League and the Councilors’ League.

The League of Cities is composed of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, president; Antipolo City Mayor Angelino Gatlabayan, Urdaneta City Mayor Amadeo Perez, Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Quano, and Surigao City Mayor Alfonso Casura.

Last Friday, the League of Cities approved a resolution during their meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Manila supporting President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in her call to help address the national fiscal crisis.

This means a 50 percent reduction in their projected 2005 IRAs following consultations with Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin and Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong.

Aside from the 50 percent reduction in their projected IRA receipts, the League of Cities also called for a moratorium on the conversion of towns into cities and for better coordination between the Bureau of Internal Revenue and local government units on the collection of taxes.

Strangely, Vice Mayor Renecito Novere said the Vice Mayors’ League of Negros Occidental passed a resolution thanking the President for not reducing the IRA.

In the face of the assurances of both Drilon and Villar that the IRA would not be slashed unless the President admits that the budget deficit has become unmanageable, the League of Cities’ move becomes suspect.

Has the situation reached "unmanageable proportions"? The mixed signals are intriguing since local SPs have been passing resolutions calling for the preservation of the IRA.

Sack Gocc Heads — Villar

Sen. Villar, meanwhile, urged the government to sack the heads of government-owned and controlled corporations for gross mismanagement and for having contributed to the fiscal deficit from 2000 to 2002.

Villar, chairman of the Senate finance committee, cited the National Power Corp. for its 37 percent share of the total deficit, the National Food Authority, 14 percent, and the Light Rail Transit, 13 percent.

"The heads of GOCCs must be held accountable for their firms’ financial troubles," Villar said in a press release.

"There is a need to look into the fiscal prudence of our public debts. The government should determine the weaknesses in its fiscal management and address them immediately," the senator stressed.

Napocor, he added, has an outstanding debt of P1.4 billion. The LRTA, on the other hand, has P25 billion. The Nacionalista Party head said GOCCs’ debts reached P2.1 trillion this month. This represents 40 percent of the consolidated public sector debt. From 1997 to 2003, he added, about P428.10 billion or 21.3 percent of the national government debt is due to assumed liabilities and lending to GOCCs, he said.

In a separate release, Villar said he has filed Senate Bill No. 669 seeking to increase the pension benefits of Social Security System members.

He demanded that those who have contributed longer to the SSS should receive higher pension benefits considering the declining value of the peso.

He recently sought a Senate inquiry to determine if the proposed increase in SSS monthly contributions is reasonable and to check if the agency has been doing good housekeeping over the years.

Villar asked SSS officials to address the problem of collection inefficiency, pointing out that the corporate sector has a delinquency rate of 40 percent, higher than the lower income sector’s delinquency rate.

The senator cited more specifically the agency’s expenditure rate of 49 percent, add to that the big salaries and benefits of its top officials.

SSS officials must explain how they spend their money. Increased expenditures that are not balanced with SSS income may be the primary reason why SSS is losing money, he pointed out.

Therein lies a major problem. Is SSS spending more than what it is collecting?

NPA owns up to ‘Mokong’ killing

Tension rose in Western Visayas with the New People’s Army in Panay finally publicly admitting that it "punished" Daniel "Mokong" Batoy, the island commander of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade, on Aug. 22 in Makato, Aklan.

The Coronacion Chiva "Waling Waling" Command said Batoy was punished for a long list of crimes against the revolutionary movement and against the people who it claimed demanded the death sentence for him.

Mokong, according to its press statement, reportedly led the 1993-1994 mutiny of majority of NPA rebels in Panay against the NPA regional command and "traitorously connived with the AFP-PNP and led the RPA-ABB in Panay as special CAFGUs in engaging in criminal activities."

Julian Paisano, spokesman of the NPA command, said Batoy was involved in a series of killings and raids, including the murder of Boy Tesorero, a Makato businessman, whose business rival hired the services of the RPA-ABB.

He expressed regret for the death of Diana Jane Batoy and Meliton Fortin. Diana is the daughter of Mokong. She was unintentionally killed because she was riding tandem with her father when he was targeted by NPA gunmen.

There is another side to the warning. "We are continuously developing the capacity of all NPA platoons on the island. We will continue to launch tactical offensives while we enforce strict discipline," Paisano said.

So far, there has been no reaction from the RPA-ABB. But it does not mean that the "splitists" are taking things down.

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ADDENDA: First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo presided over the laying of the time capsule for the construction of the 50-bed Ignacio L. Arroyo Sr. Memorial Hospital in Isabela, Negros Occidental last Sunday. He was accompanied by Reps. Ignacio Arroyo and Mikey Arroyo and former board member Quito Montilla. In a way, according to the Negros lawmaker, it was a long-time dream of his father to build a hospital for his townmates when he was still alive. The P30-million hospital will be funded by the provincial government, the foundation of the First Gentleman, and the provincial government. Each will contribute P10 million. It is to be constructed on a one-hectare lot turned over to the provincial government. A dream come true, commented Mayor Renato Malabor. Gov. Joseph Marañon said the hospital construction signals a reminder to all Negrenses that there is nothing impossible in government if we put our hands together and have cooperation. He said work on the modern Teresita Jalandoni Memorial Hospital would start soon, plus the renovation of two district hospitals in Cadiz and Escalante... Another icon of Our Lady of Mary Immaculate in the Murcia poblacion lost its hands and head to a robber or a group of robbers. The theft was discovered at 4 a.m. Sunday. The robbers passed through the church’s main door and stole the icon’s ivory head and hands. "Where is your conscience?" asked acting police director Mark Edison Belarma. Last month, an icon at the St. Mary Magdalene Church in Hinigaran town lost its head and both hands made of fiber glass to robbers who destroyed the wooden grills to gain access to the church.