Davide supports Garcia's House Bill

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III is supporting the proposal of his political foe, third district Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, mandating the component cities to share real property tax revenues with the province.

House Bill (HB) 1299 authored by Garcia seeks amendment Section 271 of  Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991 to require municipalities to share the real property taxes with the province.

"It's (a) good idea nga sila (municipalities) pud mo-contribute," Davide told reporters.

Davide also noted that a lot of provisions of the Local Government Code need amendments to address the present needs of the local government units.

Davide lost to Garcia in the 2010 gubernatorial race but won against the latter's brother, former third district Rep. Pablo John Garcia in the 2013 elections.

HB 1299 requires provinces to get a share in the proceeds of real property taxes imposed by component cities.

Garcia said that under the existing provision of the Code, component cities retains the right to vote for elective provincial positions, but are not required to share in the burden of government by way of  taxation.

Under the existing law, component cities are not required to share its revenue of real property taxes with the province.

Yet, under Section 16 of the same Code, a province is mandated to protect and uphold the general welfare of all its inhabitants, including those residing in component cities.

Garcia argued that the Code is onerous for a number of reasons.

First, a local government unit's being, or conversion into, a component city does not relieve the province of its obligation to maintain provincial infrastructure such as roads and bridges within that component city, and its mandatory assistance to its barangays.

She added that while the province serves both towns and component cities, only the municipalities, which are less financially capable, give a share of its real property taxes revenue to the province.

Clearly, she said that Section 271 of the Code should be amended to correct this onerous situation, by making component cities share, as they must, the proceeds of real property taxes with the province.

Under Garcia's proposal, 30 percent of real property taxes that a component city collects shall accrue to the province, 40 percent to the general fund of the component city, and 30 percent shall be distributed among the barangays of the component city where the property is located.

The 30 percent for the barangays shall be distributed in such a manner that 50 percent shall go to the barangay where the property is located and other 50 percent shall be divided equally to the other barangays.  (FREEMAN)