MANILA, Philippines – Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. turned over the other day P370 million in checks representing the shares of the city’s 142 barangays in the real property tax collection for the first quarter of this year.
Barangay South Triangle received the biggest share at P11, 008,445.54 while Barangay Escopa III had the lowest share with P1.3 million.
He said he does not regret his decision to give the barangays their real property tax share shortly after he took over the reins of the city government in 2001.
“We have been trying to be a role model among local government units in giving our barangays their fair share in real property tax collection,” he said.
To date, Quezon City is the only local government unit in the country giving the barangays their share in real property tax collection. The P370 million is the largest barangay tax share distributed by the city government since the program was started in 2002.
Belmonte urged barangay officials to use their resources on projects that will benefit the most number of their constituents. He said the city government will always try to check whether the barangays are following proper auditing procedures, adding that all the city’s barangays have been compliant so far.
He said giving the tax shares not only serves as an incentive for barangay officials to help the government’s tax collection efforts, but also lends more meaning to the local autonomy law. – Perseus Echeminada