CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/3 Nov) – The city government’s business tax collection as of the third quarter rose by almost P43 million compared to the same period last year, city treasurer Lino Daral said.
From January 1 to October 31, City Hall earned P515.3 million from its tax collection from the business sector alone. In the previous year, it was P472.4 million.
Daral attributes this marked growth to the wholesalers, dealers, distributors and retailers in the city. He added that the service establishments section also showed stark improvement.
“These figures show that we have more visitors this year compared to the last. We project a five- to seven-percent increase by the end of the fiscal year,” said Daral.
City Hall earned P35.7 million from service establishments from January 1 to October 31. Last year, it was P30.7 million.
A document Daral showed this reporter states that last year, from the first up to the third quarter, City Hall collected P41 million from the wholesalers, dealers, distributors. In the same period this year, Daral said they were able to collect P43.1 million. Retailers in the city posted a revenue of P120 million while during the same period last year they earned P111.6 million.
But Daral said he is slightly concerned on how to offset the 11.7-percent reduction in the city’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for 2012.
He said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) told him the city’s IRA for 2012 will be P796.8 million, which is P105.5 million lesser than the 2011 revenue allotment.
“I don’t know what’s the national government’s idea behind this reduction. It’s suppose to increase because every year there is always an increase of the overhead operating cost in the local governments,” he said.
He pointed out a provision in the Local Government Code that revenue allotments for highly urbanized cities should increase by five percent each year.
“We are at par with other highly urbanized cities in terms of salaries of its employees. In fact, we are one of the highest paying LGUs in the region,” noted Daral.
Case in point, Daral added, is that city councilors and department heads are paid P45,000 per month plus a monthly representation and travel allowance (RATA) of P13,000.
“The city councilors’ RATA is almost the same level as that of a regional director of a national line agency. I think some regional directors even receive as low as P9,000 RATA monthly,” he said.
In another development, Mayor Vicente Emano announced in an interview over a local radio station that his three-day trade mission in Gwangyang, South Korea was able to clinch at least “US$ 5 million in investment prospects” for the city and the province of Misamis Oriental.
“Our trade mission in South Korea was a rousing success because we were able to ensure US$ 5 million in investment prospects for next year. In fact, the executives of the companies I have talked to will be coming over next week to further iron out the details of the investment prospects,” said Emano over the radio in the dialect.
Emano arrived in the city Thursday after a three-day trade mission in Gwangyang, South Korea. He was accompanied by Promote CdO Foundation chair Ruben Vegafria, Cagayan de Oro Power and Light Company (Cepalco) vice president Jaime Rafael Paguio and Department of Trade and Industry-Misamis Oriental provincial director Eliza Pabillore. (Cong B. Corrales / MindaNews)