Binay vows to increase towns’ IRA

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Presidential candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay promised yesterday to increase the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of local governments to maximize peace and development initiatives in the countryside if he gets elected.

Binay also spoke of his desire to address Mindanao’s power woes during a dialogue with peace activists and representatives from civil society organizations in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The event was organized by the Cotabato City-based Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) and assisted by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) of Germany and the World Bank.

The dialogue was meant to gather presidential candidates in Davao City to talk about their intended peace and development programs if elected to office.

“Only Vice President Binay responded positively to our invitation,” said Oblate priest Eliseo Mercado Jr., principal convenor of Kusog Mindanao.

A bloc of peace advocacy groups and different business organizations, Kusog Mindanao has for years been facilitating cross-section dialogues to raise public awareness on the economic and political potentials of Mindanao and ARMM provinces.

Binay said there is a need to focus on tax reliefs and address the problem on smuggling, which is depriving the state of revenues, and to use as guide in formulating socio-economic policies the glaring disparity between the country’s elite and poor.