91 CV towns, 2 cities face huge IRA cuts

TUGUEGARAO CITY — Ninety-one municipalities and two cities in Cagayan Valley are facing huge cuts in their annual Internal Revenue Allotments (IRAs) after a 2004 land survey reduced their land areas significantly.

Alberto Obedoza, land management survey division chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here, said the results of their latest survey could spell at least 20 percent decrease in the IRAs of the 91 towns and the cities of Santiago and Cauayan, both in Isabela.

With the survey results, Santiago City’s annual IRA of P444 million may be reduced by almost 50 percent.

The affected municipalities include Cabatuan, Santo Tomas and Divilacan in Isabela; and Aritao, Dupax del Sur and Dupax del Norte in Nueva Vizcaya.

Obedoza said the latest political and territorial land survey showed that the total land areas of these towns were far less than what were originally registered.

Aside from population, land area is one of the bases which the national government looks into in allocating the IRA of each town, city and province, including the barangays.

Erroneous perimeter surveys, overlapping boundaries and land disputes are some of the reasons why there are discrepancies in the land area figures of local government units and the DENR, Obedoza said.

Cagayan Valley is composed of Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Isabela, Cagayan and Batanes. It has a total land area of 2,683,758 hectares, including 960,064 hectares of alienable and disposable lands.

The survey results have been submitted to the Office of the President and the Department of Budget and Management.