Mayors to Congress: Increase cities’ IRA

MANILA, Philippines – City mayors asked lawmakers yesterday to increase the share of internal revenue allotments (IRA) of cities if they want to give city status to more towns that are now entitled to such privilege under the Local Government Code.

They expressed their proposal through Naga City Mayor Jessie Robredo, who told a news forum in Quezon City that they are not against the conversion of more towns into cities.

“We should either make these towns comply with the requirements prescribed by law for city status or increase the IRA share of all cities,” he said.

IRA represents the share of local government units (LGUs) from national taxes collected from their jurisdictions.

Robredo said when the Local Government Code was enacted in 1991, there were only 60 cities whose IRA entitlements were pegged by the law at 23 percent.

“About 20 percent of the people then were residing in cities. Now we have 120 cities accounting for 37 percent of the population. And yet, the cities’ IRA share has remained at 23 percent,” he said.

He said the cities’ IRA share should increase to 37 percent corresponding to the growth in population.

He pointed out that converting more towns into cities without revising the IRA allocation sharing prejudices existing cities, which would get smaller amounts of IRA funds.

“That is not fair to our constituents,” he stressed.

Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Ann Hofer, author of a bill that would give city status to capital towns in provinces without cities provided they meet certain standards, agreed with Robredo that the IRA allocation formula should be reviewed.

However, she said there should be a way for cities that have bigger internal incomes to share their IRA with smaller LGUs to help the latter develop.

For instance, she said a big city like Makati that generates billions in internal income should not get billions more in IRA.