The other story about CamSur

Nobody wants to learn of family infighting.

News about Rep. Luis Villafuerte and son, Camarines Sur Gov. LRay, burning bridges is unfortunate, saddening and infuriating all at the same time.

As narrated by the elder Villafuerte, he went to LRay’s house to try to patch things up with his son on Father’s Day. The two, as we all know, are at odds over the issue of splitting the province into two. But instead of reconciling with his estranged dad, LRay reportedly ordered his dad to get out of the house.

If LRay can conveniently disown his own father and mentor in life and politics for fleeting political gain, can the people of  Camarines Sur trust him to lead them out of poverty towards progress?  

To add insult to injury, LRay is said to be thinking of fielding his 22-year-old son, who does not even speak Bicolano, against the elder Villafuerte who plans to run for governor in 2013.

The elder Villafuerte can perhaps only shake his head in utter disbelief at news of how LRay has left the province in shambles after years in power.

It has been reported that for three successive years—2007, 2008 and 2009—the Commission on Audit reported no less than 40 “irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, and unconscionable expenses” incurred by LRay’s provincial government.

Among these were the non-transmittal to the proper authorities of the proceeds from the operations of the CamSur Watersports Complex and Caramoan Island Resorts, two facilities owned by the provincial government.

LRay claims all these are “mere observations” by COA that have since been rectified. But a former provincial board member doesn’t think so,  and has filed at least 10 graft cases against LRay and other provincial officials, the latest of which involved ghost purchase of fuel worth P20 million in 2010.

Meanwhile, LRay has claimed that CamSur attracted 2.3 million tourists in 2010. This, observers say, is dubious considering the limited air and overland  transportation and hotel accommodations.

There is this news about the Republic Wakepark Nuvali in Laguna, which LRay is promoting, allegedly because two of his sons are majority owners of this new facility.

We’ll know in due time whether the people of CamSur would want LRay to remain in power, via his 22-year-old son.

LGU champion

 Under the law, local government units have to share in a combined Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) equivalent to 40 percent of national revenue, to be divided among them on an equal-sharing formula based on the total land area and population of each locality.

But with new provinces and cities being created, the shares are getting smaller and smaller.

Common sense holds that given inflationary pressures and the expected annual increase in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) or the national budget, the IRA—and the respective shares of local governments—is supposed to get bigger by the year.

But because of a provision in the Local Government Code that computes a particular fiscal year’s IRA on actual revenue earnings on the third preceding year, local executives now expect to get lower IRA shares for their respective LGUs for the next two years owing to poorer tax collections in 2009 and 2010.

Next year, for instance, the IRA outlay is due for a 4.8 percent reduction (owing to a 4.8 percent drop in the national government’s revenue earnings in 2009), even if there is a 20 percent increase in the Palace-proposed GAA for 2012.

Good that local executives have found a new champion in Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., chairman of the Senate local government committee, who is now calling on the executive department to find innovative ways of restoring this almost five percent reduction, so as not to adversely affect the LGUs’ delivery of basic services.

For starters, he says, the Palace could source the P13.3 billion (equivalent to the 4.8 percent slash) from national-government savings, which hit P26.25 billion last April alone.

With 55 percent of every LGU’s annual budget going to personal expenditures, another 10 percent to maintenance and other operating expenses, and 20 percent to the development fund, Marcos said the IRA cutback will mean “there will be very little left for them to do anything.”

As a former governor for nine years, Marcos said he understood the predicament of these LGUs facing IRA cutbacks.

This is not run-of-the-mill grandstanding as Marcos’ knows from his extensive experience as a local elective official in his Ilocos Norte home province that the success of local programs and projects are contingent in large part on the amount of money that the Provincial Capitol can spend.

Marcos, a seasoned LGU official and a product of Wharton Business School (which produced the likes of Manny Pangilinan and Lance Gokongwei), definitely knows what he is talking about.

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