December 17, 1999 NEWS RELEASE

The country’s local officials and employees will go on a four-day work stoppage nationwide starting on Tuesday (Dec. 21) to dramatize widespread indignation over the Senate's staggering P35 billion cut in the year 2000 internal revenue allotment (IRA) of local government units (LGUs).

This was the consensus reached by officers of the 1.2 million-strong Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) led by Laguna Gov. Joey Lina during an emergency meeting at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City to discuss a series of drastic measures opposing the IRA cut which they branded as "unconstitutional, arbitrary, discriminatory, and grossly unfair."

"Ang IRA ay Para sa Masa, Huwag Bawasan," was the battlecry adopted by ULAP leaders as they announced the work stoppage before more than 10,000 rallyists consisting of governors, mayors, councilors, barangay officials, and other local executives and employees who trooped this afternoon to the Quezon City Elliptical road fronting the PCA building, site of the Senate-House bicameral conference committee deliberations on the 2000 national budget, in a last-ditch bid to have the IRA cut restored.

"We will not take this matter lightly. LGUs have long been abused," Lina said as he voiced the determination of ULAP officials to intensify protest actions including simultaneous rallies at provincial capitols nationwide and the wearing of black ribbons and the draping of local government buildings with black cloth to symbolize mourning and widespread indignation.

Other drastic measures reached during the emergency meeting include supporting a call made by Negros Occidental Gov. Rafael Coscolluela for all local officials to junk the reelection bids of all senators who "did not even raise a whimper" against the IRA cut, except for Sen. Aquilino Pimentel who furiously resisted the proposal during deliberations on the Senate floor.

At the same time, Lina issued a last-minute appeal to congressmen and other senators to oppose the IRA cut when the bicameral report on the national budget is submitted to them.

"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," said ULAP officials as they also stepped up a campaign to collect 5 million signatures nationwide calling for the restoration of the P35 billion IRA cut.

Camarines Sur Gov. Luis Villafuerte, national chairman of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, said that during the four-day work stoppage, governors will decide on other measures to intensify protest actions in their respective provinces.

The Senate, upon the instigation of Sen. John Osmena, approved last Monday a P30 billion cut from the IRA of LGUs, including an additional P5 billion cut also from the LGUs’ IRA for the Local Government Service Equalization Fund, triggering widespread protest actions from local officials in the 78 provinces, 83 cities, 1,452 municipalities, and 42,000 barangays across the country.

ULAP officials had warned of mass lay-offs as a direct result of the Senate’s decision and that LGUs would be unable to comply with the planned 10 percent salary increase of all government employees by January 2000, and delivery of basic social services will bog down.

"Senators and congressmen in the bicameral committee who refuse to restore the IRA cut are, in effect, undermining the efforts of the Estrada administration in the grassroots level particularly in barangays where socio-economic programs and health services will be gravely affected," Lina said.

LPP secretary-general and Bulacan Gov. Josie dela Cruz said protest actions continued yesterday in Surigao del Norte, Southern Leyte, Agusan del Norte, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Abra, Bulacan, Laguna, Camarines Sur, Leyte, Cebu and other key areas in Visayas and Mindanao, citing latest reports reaching ULAP’s Manila office.

ULAP officials also warned that any IRA cut will push financially beleaguered LGUs toward 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.