Party-list group pushes autonomy in local revenue utilization

CEBU CITY — An organization listed in the Commission on Elections as contender for party-list system in the May 13 elections has pushed for more autonomy to ensure maximum utilization of resources collected from local taxes.

Mike Pato, second nominee of 1AAAP party-list, said Friday that with autonomy, Cebu and other provinces will be empowered “to decide for our people.”

Other nominees of 1AAAP are lawyer Anna Alvarez from Davao (first nominee) and Cedric Ang from Leyte.

1AAAP (Alliance Advocating Autonomy Party) is among the party-list organizations invited to a candidates’ forum dubbed as “Klarohay Ta” organized by the Mega Cebu and the University of San Carlos (USC) on Friday.

Other party-list organizations whose nominees showed up in the forum were Ako Bisdak, Bayan Muna, and Magdalo.

According to Pato, big provinces like Cebu does not “need financial assistance from Manila, we only need to retain a bigger part of the income we have generated.”

He demonstrated the distribution of infrastructure and other public works projects in the country that are implemented through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-7) as examples of unfairly allocated national budget.

Pato said that for a period of five years (2013-2017), Cebu province was able to contribute to the national coffers around PHP500 billion in the form of internal revenue taxes.

Out of the collected amount of internal revenues collected here, he lamented that only PHP35.4 billion was returned to the province in the form of infrastructure projects.

“PHP35 billion is a pittance as compared to the estimated PHP500 billion in the taxes we sent. That PHP35 billion-worth of projects is for five years, while other regions have infrastructure projects with well over PHP30 billion (allocation) just for a year,” Pato told the attendees of the forum held at the USC’s Fr. Theodore Buttenbruch Hall.

He also cited the case of Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Cebu field office that collected PHP1.8 billion per year from the province’s motorists who are registering their vehicles and applying for driver’s license.

“Less PHP300 million for the salaries and other expenses, the remaining PHP1 billion could have been used for road safety and maintenance” if the province utilizes it under the principle of autonomy, rather than remitting the amount to its central office, he said.

The organization supports President Rodrigo Duterte's advocacy on federalism in the country. (PNA)

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http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1065370
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