Council wants brgys to handle revenues

A provision of a proposed city ordinance, standardizing the rates of filing and certification fees in the barangays, could be described as detrimental to smaller barangays, stated the report of the city council's barangay affairs committee.

The committee of Councilor Eugenio Faelnar, after reviewing the proposed ordinance, saw nothing wrong with the measure except for a provision mandating that collections from all barangays should be deposited in one account under the sole discretion of the city government.

The panel, in its report during the last session, wanted this provision changed contending that, pursuant to the principle of decentralization, the collection of these fees by a certain barangay should be kept or deposited by that barangay for its own disposition.

The proposed ordinance of Councilor Edgardo Labella mandates all 80 barangays to collect filing and certification fees from complainants of cases, but at uniform rates and exempting the indigents or those who cannot afford to pay.

The measure was meant to set a uniform rate in the fees after it was found that some bigger barangays set fees as high as P100 while others have these as low as P50. - Cristina C. Birondo