Bacolod City – Despite the Mandanas ruling of Supreme Court that increases the internal revenue allotment of local government units, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said that he expects a lower budget for Negros Occidental in 2023.
Three years, prior to that, the collection was very, very bad, Lacson said, blaming the COVID 19 pandemic.
Negros Occidental has a budget allocation of P5.7 billion for 2022, an increase of P600 million compared to 2021.
But the budget for 2023 has yet to be formulated by the provincial government of Negros Occidental.
The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling in 2018, giving LGUs a just share on all national taxes collected, not only from the Bureau of Internal Revenue, effective 2022.
LGUs presently get their IRA from 40 percent of national internal revenue taxes collected by the BIR. The Mandanas Garcia ruling is projected to increase the IRA of LGUs by 27.61 percent, according to the Department of Interior and Local Government.
During the celebration of International Day of Action for Women’s Health at the Provincial Capitol Social Hall in Bacolod City, spearheaded by the Provincial Gender and Development Focal Point System, it was learned that a P300 million budget for GAD (Gender and Development) is being pushed to be included in the proposed 2023 budget.
Lacson said it was a planned GAD budget next year. But he said they will see if they can afford it in the actual budget. (Gilbert Bayoran via tvds photo by tvds)