December 14, 1999 NEWS RELEASE

Widespread indignation swept through the ranks of local officials today as more protest rallies were mounted nationwide over the Senate’s approval last Monday of a staggering P30 billion cut in the internal revenue allotment (IRA) share of local government units (LGUs) in the year 2000 budget.

Leaders of the 1.2 million-strong Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) led by Laguna Gov. Joey Lina said the IRA cut "shows that the welfare of LGUs is not a genuine concern of the Senate which up to now is merely paying lip service to the cause of local autonomy."

"It is apparent that LGUs are treated as a kindergarten partner when the law provides that we are supposed to be a major partner in nation-building," Lina said as he led a rally of local officials wearing black ribbons in front of the Senate this afternoon.

Simultaneous protest actions led by governors and mayors also spread like wildfire today in Surigao del Norte, Southern Leyte, Agusan del Norte, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Abra, Bulacan, Laguna, and Camarines Sur, according to latest reports reaching ULAP’s Manila office.

Even in Cebu, the home province of Sen. John Osmena who proposed the IRA cut, a major rally is set for tomorrow (Dec. 15), at the provincial capitol.

ULAP officials said they are seriously considering a call made by Negros Occidental Gov. Rafael Coscolluela for all local officials to withdraw support for the reelection bids of all senators who "never bothered to raise a whimper" against the IRA cut, except for Sen. Aquilino Pimental who furiously resisted the proposal during deliberations on the Senate floor.

At the same time, resolutions adopted by various provincial legislative councils or Sanggunian Panlalawigan condemning the IRA cut and calling for the restoration of the P30 billion kept pouring into senators’ offices today, said ULAP officials who were also furnished copies.

"We will not take this matter (the IRA cut) lightly," said ULAP secretary-general and Bulacan Gov. Josefina de la Cruz as she expressed the sentiments of local officials who vowed to intensify protest actions in the coming days.

Local officials and employees will continue to wear black ribbons and pins and drape black cloths on the facades of local government buildings as a sign of mourning until the IRA cut is restored, she added.

ULAP had warned that any IRA cut will not only be "unconstitutional" but will push financially beleaguered LGUs towards bankruptcy and will result in the crippling of numerous socio-economic programs including the Estrada administration’s centerpiece programs on food security and mass housing.

Despite the warning, the Senate approved on final reading Monday night the IRA cut with a vote of 17-0, triggering all-out protests by local officials including a massive campaign to collect 5 million signatures calling for the restoration of the P30 billion.

"Depriving LGUs of the full IRA is depriving our people of the most basic services as guaranteed in our Constitution and provided by the 1991 Local Government Code," said Ulap’s position paper expressing the sentiments of all local officials from the 78 provinces, 83 cities, 1,452 municipalities, and all 42,000 barangays throughout the country.

Reacting to Osmena’s claim that there was no cut but "a mere transfer from programmed to unprogrammed funds," Lina said that LGUs have long been abused as in the case of the P5 billion taken from the 1999 IRA and transferred to an "equalization fund" but only P2 billion of which has been released with the year drawing to a close and despite promises from the budget department.

In the position paper, ULAP officials said the P30 billion cut which is about 26 percent of the entire IRA share of LGUs "runs counter to the spirit of the Constitution that guarantees local autonomy and the 1991 Local Government Code that calls for a 40 percent share for LGUs in the actual internal revenue tax collections three years prior to the current fiscal year."

He added the cut "fails to appreciate that LGUs provide frontline government services and deliver the most basic needs of our people, from primary health care to social services, from agricultural services to infrastructure projects, from education to livelihood promotion, and all other functions devolved from the national government.