Consensus
Statement of the Local Governance Budget Forum
On
the Formulation of the General Appropriations Act
Despite
the raging controversies that beset the national government, the business
of governance must go on. Local government and civil society advocates
for local autonomy are especially concerned with the fiscal problems
that are hampering the delivery of services at the localities. The year
2000 saw the Php 10 Billion cut in local government and the delay in
the release in the rightful share in the national wealth. In order to
ensure that local governance is no longer hampered by budgetary constraints,
members of the leagues of local government have come together to ensure
that the General Appropriations Act will always be local autonomy friendly.
The
group called the Local Governance Budget Forum will work to ensure that
Congress considers basic points in formulating the General Appropriations
Act:
- That
the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), Which is the just share of
local government in the national internal revenue, is appropriated
according to the formula stated in the Local Government Code of
1991 and automatically released. The IRA is after all the lifeblood
of all local governments, especially those that are less endowed
with resources. The just and automatic distribution of the IRA ensures
the strengthening of local democracy, sustainable development, and
the delivery of basic services to the people
-
That the Local Government Service Equalization Fund, which ensures
that the LGUs most needful of funding receive additional revenue,
is sourced outside of the IRA. This fund which is supposed to
help LGUs source more funding actually reduces the IRA by Php
5 Billion.
- That
there should be more transparency and consultation in the formulation
and approval of the budgets of national government agencies that
are devolved and that service LGU directly. Since the Code was enacted,
there has been steady increase in the budgets of NGAs that have
devolved personnel and service to the localities. In order to be
acceptable, this seeming discrepancy must be explained
- That
safeguard mechanisms be put in place so that the use of pork barrel
funds, which this year is called the Priority Development Assistance
Fund (PDAF), be rationalized and made transparent.
- That
no further deductions be imposed on the IRA. We ask that the BIR
computation of the IRA be respected and that no further congressional
cuts be imposed on the year 2001's budget
- That
the actual revenue collections and the formula for computing of
both the BIR and the Department of Finance be transparent and Justified
That the legality of deductions on the IRA imposed by the Department
of Budget and Management be questioned. We understand that some
of these deductions are justified but their legal basis must be
made clear.
- That
no more arbitrary restrictions on the use of the IRA be imposed
by the national government. This year was witness to the issuance
of various Executive Orders and Administrative Orders on the use
of the local government of their just share of the national revenue
- That
the GAA be approved early so that planning for local governance
will have a basis
- That
the formulation of the General Appropriations act is transparent.
The bicameral committee should restrain itself from making insertions
that nullify the consultative budget process. Neither should the
provisions of prior concurrence with Congress be inserted in the
budget of local governments. The GAA of the year 2000 saw the insertion
of congressional controls in the funds of autonomous local governments.
We
understand that the national government is in crisis, and now more than
ever, the burden of governance lies in the autonomous local government
units. To effectively govern, they must be given their just share of
the national wealth. This is a sight and duty mandated by the 1987 Constitution.
Local government administrators and civil society groups have banded
together to study the budget and ensure that the GAA reflects and fulfills
the spirit of local autonomy, for this is where the hope for democratization
and sustainable development lies.
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