40 provinces, cities flunk public finance mngm’t scorecard

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 40 provinces and cities failed to manage their public finances well in 2012, according to the government’s latest TaxWatch campaign report.

Based on the the fiscal sustainability scorecard prepared by the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Local Government Finance covering fiscal year 2012,  26 cities and 14 provinces did not submit their statement of receipts and expenditures to the BLGF.

These include the cities of Manila, Malabon, Manila, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Taguig, Santiago, Calamba, Cebu, Mandaue, Calbayog, Ormoc, Urdaneta, Gingoog, Bago, Pagadian, San Carlos, Bislig, Sagay, Bais, Dapitan, Iriga, Passi, Canlaon, Isabela and Catbalogan.
The provinces identified are Ilocos Sur, South Cotabaco, Surigao del Sur, Laguna, Rizal, Occidental Mindoro, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Sarangani, Sulu, Aurora, Romblon, Marinduque and Batanes.

The scorecard is a regular fiscal and financial management performance assessment for all LGUs in the areas of local revenue generation capacity, local collection growth, expenditure management, updating of schedule of market values and reportorial compliance of treasurers and assessors with the DOF and BLGF.

It aims to institutionalize the regular publication of fiscal indicators and performance review of LGUs in the spirit of accountability and good local financial housekeeping.

This year, the BLGF will start imposing sanctions on local treasurers who fail to submit the statement of receipts and expenditures as well as those who file inaccurate or misleading reports.

Disciplinary actions include oral or written reprimand for the first offense, suspension for the second or subsequent offense and dismissal from service for the third offense.

Submission of erroneous reports, on the other hand, falls under “less grave offense” or simple misconduct with sanctions ranging from suspension (one month and one day up to six months) for offense and dismissal from the service for second offense.

Local treasurers are required to file the first three quarterly reports on or before the 20th of the month following the end of the quarter, and the year-end report shall be submitted on or before March 31 of the subsequent calendar year.
Based on the fiscal sustainability scorecards of 1,477 municipalities, including newly created cities, in the Philippines from 2009 to 2012, first class municipalities still lag in maximizing their own local revenue sources despite having better leverage in mobilizing revenues.
Of 286 first class municipalities with reports, around 40 percent or 116 remain dependent on national government revenues. This dependence is partly because 199 municipalities or 70 percent have poor collections from real property taxes, accounting for less than 15 percent of their respective local earnings.