49 barangays pay their dues to ABC

CEBU, Philippines - Forty-nine of the 80 barangays in Cebu City have already paid the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) their membership fees and the proportionate shares of their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).

In his report during the ABC quarterly meeting yesterday, council president Michael Ralota said he is hoping that the officials of the 31 other barangays will also settle their obligations the soonest time possible.

Yesterday’s activity, which was held at the South Road Properties, was attended by 65 barangay captains in Cebu City.

The annual membership fees of the barangays to the ABC is P25,750 while the amount of their proportionate shares from the IRA varies depending on the amount that it will receive from the national government.

While there were statistics presented, some of the barangay captains claimed that there were a few barangays who fully paid their IRA shares and membership fees to the ABC during the term of then Councilor Eugenio “Jingjing” Faelnar.

As of yesterday, it was not known how much is the total amount collected from the 49 barangays.

Barangay Mabolo topped the list of barangays with highest amount paid to the council after it paid P212,190 for its IRA share and membership fee.

Next is Mambaling with P157,908; followed by Bulacao, P145,049; Hipodromo, P137,865; Capitol Site, P132,385; Tejero, P124,166; Duljo-Fatima, P119,368 and Busay, P102,179.

The ABC had encountered a problem when several of its member-barangays stopped paying their obligations. Ralota earlier planned to seek the help of the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas (LBP) to pressure the village chiefs to pay their IRA share to the council.

An ABC official said there is a plan that barangays that will not settle their obligations will not be given projects from the city which includes assistance to its tanods and other services.

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young assured the barangay officials yesterday that the City Council will always help them in their needs.

Barangay Basak-Pardo headed by David Tumulak and Barangay Basak-San Nicolas under George Rama only paid P25,750 annual membership dues to the ABC and did not pay their IRA shares. (FREEMAN)