ANYONE KEEP TRACK OF BILLS, creating new cities that jack-knifed their way through Congress before it adjourned?
In 1991, we had 60 cities, many of dubious viability. By 2003, the number almost doubled to 114. After Taguig, Santa Rosa and Meycauayan joined the club, the total rose to 117,
This “strained the national government’s ability to finance such local government units,” the World Bank and Asian Development Bank noted. But “the small size of LGUs prevents them from generating their own resources.”
This Congress instead approved 12 more “city candidates” : Bogo and Carcar ( Cebu ); Baybay ( Leyte); Catbalogan ( Samar ); Lamitan ( Basilan ); Tandag ( Surigao del Sur ); Batac ( Ilocos Norte ); Bayugan ( Agusan del Sur ); Cabadbaran ( Agusan del Norte ) and Borongan ( Eastern Samar ).
These 12 will slice bigger Internal Revenue Allotments ( IRAs ), chortled Senator Alfredo Lim. “If these municipalities can not even manage to meet the basic income requirement, ( set by Republic Act 9009 ) how can they be expected to perform and deliver as cities”?, the League of Cities of the Philippines snapped back. “The vested interests of a few are the only ingredients needed to derail a rational and sensible law”
The 12 got this far because Congress watered down RA 9009’s criteria for minimum economic tools. Entrance fee to “the club” rose from P20-million to P100 million in –- mark this well –- locally-generated income.
Taguig, Santa Rosa and Meycauayan meet standards on generating local taxes without a whimper, thereby creating a larger economic pie. The 12 will help themselves from the common IRA larder. But that extra will be dunned from the IRAs of others: financially-strapped Muslim provinces or four and fifth class towns. This is “beggaring your neighbor” policy.
IRAs are not a permanent crutch, a UN study points out. They’re to give elbow room for LGUs to flex their local revenue collecting muscles. But IRAs proved addictive and the reverse happened. IRAs used to cover half of local budgets. Today, they account for 63 centavos of every budgeted peso.
“Unconditional grants” invariably sap accountability. And IRA is not linked to performance. Thus, the share of locally-raised taxes has shriveled: from 31 centavos out of every peso, in the mid-1980s, to only 20 centavos today. And it is still shrinking.
Few shell cities become “engines of growth”. Instead, they remain hooked on IRAs and slurp from national pork barrels. Already, these cities are hard pressed to provide residents with even basic services, since they’re loath to tax idle land and raise levies from business.
Population meanwhile ratchets the pressure. Migrants fleeing rural penury flood into their slums. In 2005, six out of every ten Filipinos lived in urban sprawls. By 2030, urban residents could crest at 85 million. .
Mumbling “equal protection of law” Congress exempted the 12 from complying with RA 9009’s criteria for high performance. It gutted standards down to mediocrity. Is this just the election year virus? Or is it a deeper national canker?
Do we meet the demand for high performance by lowering hurdles instead? A shortage in classrooms was “solved” by juggling statistics on class sizes. In National Elementary Achievement Tests, poor performance led to scaling the passing mark down to 50%, then doling a “bonus’ of 60 points. “This meant the criterion passing score was 37.5 percent,” Philippine Human Development Report notes. “Who are kidding?
Self-delusion sells short the efforts of other cities that, by dint of hard work and performance of its officials and citizens, are emerging as “development path-blazers”. For it’s packages of best governance practices, Bacolod, Naga and Iloilo are cited in the latest Asian Development Bank study of ‘urbanization and stability” in 12 Asian countries.
Among “key lessons” these three cities offer, the Bank cites the following: “Strict enforcement of the rule of law is common to the three cities” (No vigilantes for summary execution, as in Davao and Cebu)
“All three cities underscore the active role of civil society in undertaking numerous development projects with local governments. (They systematically used ) policy instruments, such as the Local Government Code and city ordinances, to open avenues, not only for citizen participation but also for encouraging private sector development”.
Naga City’s “Citizens Charter” increased transparency and accountability of government. Procurement bids are publicized and officials respond, instead of ignoring, questions by citizens. Local revenues increased 12 times. Bacolod whittled down IRA dependence by increasing its tax base. Infant and maternal mortality are down. And so is the crime rate. And the Iloilo Metropolitan Development Council, through patient consultative efforts over a decade, put into place a coherent development plan.
Reforms were possible through vision and commitment of local chief executives. But they were not “Lone Ranger” type mayors or governors. “Citizens empowerment was part of the agenda of the three city governments.”
Running a city is more than just having IRAs prop up a “city” shingle. “Cities are changing the social fabric and culture of nations,” the ADB study notes. “It is unstoppable and changing people’s lives…It has elements of unpredictability and chaos.” To cope with those changes requires more than our wont for self delusion. (Mindanao Examiner)
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