Albay Rep. Joey Sarte-Salceda, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Economic Affairs and an unrelenting advocate in Congress official reforms to preempt the financial crisis, lauded the decision of the Liga ng mga Barangay which met in a general assembly in Manila over the weekend.
Leaders of the various administration parties, including Reps. Luis Bersamin (Lakas, Abra), Danton Bueser (LP, Laguna), Oscar Gozos (Kampi, Batangas), Nanette CasteloDaza (Lakas, Quezon City), and Gener Tulagan (Kampi, Pangasinan), also congratulated barangay heads for their show of unselfishness and patriotism to unburden the national government of its heavy fiscal load.
The country’s barangay chairmen, headed by national president Marty Lim of Romblon, unanimously passed the resolution that would enjoin all barangay units from demanding or accepting any increase in their IRA share from 2005 to 2007.
Salceda said the decision of the barangay leaders to freeze their IRA allocations at current levels in the next three years may "spark a positive chain reaction" from among the other LGUs and thus, help reverse the worsening financial dilemma being felt by the national government.
He said the government stands to save at least P11.4 billion in 2005 if all local government units from provincial to municipal governments, would follow the lead of the barangays. The IRA is estimated to increase from P144.4 billion in 2004 to P155.8 billion next year.
He readily accepted the proposal of the barangay men which countered his bid to ask government to declare a fiscal crisis that would allow it to temporarily freeze at least 15 percent of the usual IRA share.
In his proposal, the national government will issue bonds that would mature in 2006 to all local government units in exchange for the 15 percent of their respective IRA which is being "borrowed."
"While all other sectors are vigorously resisting painful reforms, barangays have initiated the first substantial step towards solving our fiscal problem. It is quite ironic that while barangays are at the bottom of the national political hierarchy, they have initiated a conceptual breakthrough, which is both heroic and historic," he said.
The Liga’s counter proposal was unanimously approved after Zamboanga City ABC President Dato Hadji Abdurahman Nuno aired the motion.
Lim also suggested that barangay units also forego their 40 percent share of any new taxes approved within the next three years so that the reverse impact on new taxes could be employed fully to reduce the deficit.
Salceda lamented that for every P1 new tax automatically creates a P0.40 expenditure for the IRA, making available only P0.60 for deficit reduction.
He said if LGUs do not forego their share, the country would have to raise P520 billion in next taxes to overcome a deficit of P312 billion.
The barangay’s voluntary act of turning down hikes in IRA came at a time when the Arroyo government called for national action to solve the alarming public sector deficit of P312 billion and a public sector debt of P5.3 billion in 2003.
Bueser, Bersamin, and Gozos vowed to place their share of countrywide development funds on stand by should barangay units in their respective districts suddenly require emergency financial assistance.
"We anticipate some of our barangays to encounter financial problems which they failed to foresee when they agreed not to expect IRA hikes. In such cases, congressmen should be ready to sacrifice their CDF for our barangays," said Bersamin.
Tulagan also called on his colleagues in the Lower House to support measures that would reset to 2007 the barangay elections scheduled in May next year.
He said the proposal would save the national treasury at least P1 billion while at the same time allow the incumbent barangay heads to continue their programs of government while scrimping on the present budgetary levels that would not be adjusted for three years.
Daza echoed Tulagan’s stand, saying that the national government might encounter serious problems about the Liga’s pledge if barangay elections were to be held as scheduled.
"We have no way of knowing whether or not the incumbent barangay officials will be the same people manning their units after May, 2005. We also have no way of knowing if the new faces would honor the commitment of their predecessors," Daza noted. (Ben R.Rosario)
