ILOILO City – The city government has a proposed budget of P2.9 billion for next year, lower than this year’s P3-billion budget, according to Mayor Jerry P. Treñas.
It has taken into consideration the decreased the city’s 2023 National Tax Allotment (NTA) share, formerly known as the Internal Revenue Allotment.
Treñas said the reduction was mainly due to the adverse economic impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic since 2020.
Section 284 of the Local Government Code provides that the share of a local government in the national internal revenue taxes is based on the collection of the third fiscal year preceding the current fiscal year.
“Our proposed budget will be submitted to the city council for approval,” said Treñas.
With a lower budget and the full implementation of the Mandanas ruling, the city government is bracing for a limited fiscal space for programs, projects and activities of the city.
The Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court transfers or devolves the delivery of basic services to local government units. It also gives them a just share in all national taxes collected and not only from the Bureau of Internal Revenue effective 2022.
Treñas noted for instance that from the Department of Health (DOH), the procurement of medicines and vaccines worth P92 million will already be downloaded to the city government.
“Ang mga bulong kag bakuna sang DOH worth P92 million i-download na na sa aton. We don’t really know how are we going to go about it kay, ti, mangita naman ta pundo para sina…. Short na gani kita, so we will have to find ways para nga maka-survive kita sa dason nga tuig,” said Treñas.
He also noted that the fourth tranche of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 5, though also included in the proposed budget, will take effect on July next year yet.
“I hope makaintindi ang tanan ta nga empleyado nga indi kita ka implement sang SSL 5 fourth tranche effective January kay ti kadamo gid sang aton kinanglanon lagson. I understand nga tanan gusto man tani nga ma-implement na but sa subong indi pa naton kaya,” the city mayor appealed.
Aside from this, the Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA) or allowances of national government employees such as teachers, policemen, judges, among others will also be reduced.
“We’ll try to make sure nga i-appropriate ta the whole year but it will be reduced amounts,” he added.
Treñas is hopeful that by 2025, the city government can already recover from the economic setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Treñas said the city’s infrastructure projects will not be mainly affected by the reduced budget of the city./PN
