Barili told to release barangays’ tax shares

CEBU, Philippines – The Commission on Audit has chided the municipal government of Barili for withholding over P800,000 financial assistance to the barangays.

COA auditors has discovered that the town withheld a total of P826,120.43 of barangays shares from basic real property taxes and mandatory financial aid in 2014 which could have been used in important projects.

“We recommend that the municipal government regularly release the funds due the different barangay pursuant to pertinent provisions of RA 7160 so these can be utilized in the implementation of much needed barangay projects,” said COA.

According to the state auditors, the move is contrary to pertinent provisions of R.A. 7160 or the Local Government Code thereby depriving the barangays of the use of these funds for the implementation of projects beneficial to its constituents.

Section 271 of R.A. 7160 states that “the share of each barangay (from real property taxes or RPT) shall be released without need of any further action, directly to the barangay treasurer on a quarterly basis within five days after the end of each quarter and shall not be subject to any lien or holdback for whatever purpose.”

Section 324 of the same law states that a local government shall provide at least P1,000 as aid to each component barangay.

Based on the records of Barili, the amount of undistributed shares has accumulated since 2009 and is increasing every year.

Barangays Guibuangan, Hilasgasan, Kangdampas and San Rafael, according to COA, also have a total of P50,608.02 of collectibles from the town coffers which were not given to them since 2009.

COA said their checks “got stale” because the barangays reportedly failed to claim it.

“The failure of the barangay to receive these funds had deprived them of their use for much needed projects for the benefit of their constituents,” said COA. –  /FPL (FREEMAN)