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
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.