Cabadbaran, Tandag and Bayugan to be reverted back to municipality IRA

The Department of Budget and Management Caraga Regional Office sets to implement within this month the Internal Revenue Allotments (IRA) of Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte, Bayugan in Agusan del Sur and Tandag in Surigao del Sur which will be reverted back to municipality IRA.

DBM Caraga already received from Supreme Court the writ of execution declaring as unconstitutional the laws converting 16 municipalities into cities because of its failure to meet the P100-million annual income requirement stated in Republic Act 9009 that took effect in 2001.

Based on records, some of the 16 towns and municipalities were only generating a yearly income of P20 to P30 million.

The 16 includes the cities of Baybay in Leyte, Bogo in Cebu, Catbalogan in Samar, Borongan in Eastern Samar, Tayabas in Quezon province, Lamitan in Basilan, Tabuk in Kalinga Apayao, Batac in Ilocos Norte, Mati in Davao Oriental, Guihulgan in Negros Oriental, Carcar in Cebu, El Salvador in Misamis Oriental, Naga in Cebu, including Tandag, Bayugan and Cabadbaran in Caraga Region.

"We are just waiting for the DBM Central office to finish the recomputation of IRA's which is due next week, for us to implement to concerned local government units their new IRA figure and the 3 cities reverted back to municipalities", said Regional Director Joecel Obenza.

The IRA share will be reduced as a result to the reversion of Tandag, Cabadbaran and Bayugan back to municipality status.

Once implemented, local officials feared, projects will be affected, once again deprived of the much needed funding for development and worse, if the 16 cities that have been reverted back to municipalities should be made to refund the Internal Revenue Allotment that they have received while they were still classified as cities.

Earlier the League of Cities said the conversion of more cities have resulted in lesser funds for older cities as IRA's was slashed to augment in the creation of new IRA figure for the newly converted cities. (dxBN-Radyo ng Bayan Butuan/PIA-Caraga)

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