Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said local government units (LGUs), given the increase in their national tax allotment (NTA) shares, will see a stronger exercise of autonomy when the full devolution is implemented.
The Budget Secretary reiterated that LGUs will enjoy autonomy in the identification and implementation of programs, projects, and activities to be funded from their respective financial resources like the NTA.
“Ang advantage po ay yung proper identification ng mga proyekto because sila [LGUs] po yung nakakaalam kung ano talaga ang kailangan nung kanilang mga nasasakupan, so I think this will be beneficial for them,” Pangandaman said.
The Supreme Court, in its Mandanas-Garcia ruling, corrected the basis of the just share of LGUs in the national taxes, which effectively resulted in an expansion of the resources transferred to the LGUs.
The NTA shares of LGUs are based on the tax collections of the government.
“Nako-compute yung total IRA [internal revenue allotment] po nila based po sa kinita ng Customs at saka po ng BIR. Basically tax collections po ng national government… doon po nakikita yung makukuha po nila,” Pangandaman explained.
Consistent with Section 284 of Republic Act No. 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, the amount of LGU shares in the national taxes for a given fiscal year is based on the collection of the third fiscal year preceding the current fiscal year.
Consequently, Section 2.2.1 of Local Budget Memorandum (LBM) No. 85 reiterates that the total FY 2023 NTA shares of LGUs shall be based on the actual collections of national taxes in FY 2020, as certified by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs, and Bureau of the Treasury.
The Budget Secretary underscored that the DBM will provide technical assistance to, and will perform oversight functions over, the LGUs to ensure proper budgeting and expenditure management practices.
CurrentPH News Service
