DBM cuts Santiago City’s IRA by 79% due to reduced land area

SANTIAGO CITY — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has reduced by more than half the internal revenue allotment (IRA) of this city, raising serious concern among local officials.

Isabel Taguinod, DBM regional director, said in the radio program Pananaw last Sunday that the city’s IRA has been trimmed down by at least 79 percent.

The only independent city in Cagayan Valley, Santiago City has been receiving an annual IRA of P432,983.785 based on four factors: population (P66 million), land area (P295 million), equal sharing (P67 million) and cost of devolution (P3 million).

Taguinod said the Land Management Bureau (LMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reported in its Dec. 15, 2004 cadastral survey that there was a decrease of 96,647 hectares in the city’s original land area of 122,197 hectares.

As it appears now, the remaining land area of Santiago City, which has 37 barangays, is 25,550 hectares.

As such, this reduced the city’s IRA by at least P233 million, leaving the city with more or less P200 million.

Taguinod said their office had nothing to do with the "shrinking" of the city’s land area, saying city officials should instead call the LMB’s attention to the discrepancy.

"The DBM relies on the cadastral survey of the (LMB) as to the computation of the IRA of a local government unit based on land area," he said.

City officials expressed concern about the adverse effects of the IRA reduction, saying the delivery of basic services to the city residents will be greatly impaired.

Councilors Alvin Abaya and Abby Sable urged the city government to create other revenue sources to fund its priority projects.   

Earlier, Santiago City Mayor Amelita Sison-Navarro blamed fourth district Rep. Anthony Miranda for the city’s IRA reduction.

Citing political differences with the Mirandas, Navarro, who defeated Miranda’s brother, Jose, who was then the incumbent mayor, said her detractors do not want her to achieve something big for the city.

Miranda, however, belied Navarro’s claim, saying the reduction of the city’s IRA was beyond his jurisdiction as a lawmaker.

"That would be counter-productive. I could not do that considering that Santiago City is part of the district which I represent in the halls of Congress," said Miranda, spokesman of President Arroyo’s Kampi party.

A check made by The STAR showed that the LMB’s 2004 cadastral survey also reduced the land areas of 10 municipalities in Cagayan Valley.

The 10 towns are Dinapigue, Cabatuan and Santo Tomas in Isabela; Nagtipunan, Aglipay, Diffun and Saguday in Quirino; and Aritao, Bagabag and Dupax del Sur in Nueva Vizcaya.

This, Taguinod said, will also cause a corresponding decrease in their respective IRAs.