Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong and other members of the Mayors for Good Governance (M4GG) anti-corruption coalition are calling for the Department of Finance (DOF) to answer why local government units (LGUs) are supposedly seeing a shortfall in their share of the national tax.
According to Magalong, LGUs are set to receive only 31% of the National Tax Allotment (NTA) this year, whereas the Mandañas Ruling that adjusted the shares of NTA for LGUs nationwide mandates a minimum of 40% share.
In an interview with ANC on Wednesday, Magalong explained that the NTA allocation for 2024 amounts to P871 billion, which when computed based on the actual national tax collection of P2.742 trillion is roughly 9% short.
Magalong and his compatriots are calling on the DOF to show full transparency in the accounting and computation of the tax collections, claiming that the discrepancy affects LGUs nationwide, not just Baguio.
He also said that even though the ruling has been in place since 2022, local governments saw a similar shortfall of 8% for fiscal year 2023 as well.
Smaller towns and local governments rely on their NTA share to fund projects, as internal revenue sources from smaller territories may prove insufficient.
According to Magalong, while the coalition is not assuming foul play, they want to see the numbers and a proper clarification of local government shares.
“We are exhausting all administrative remedies to clarify this. In fact, the first agency that I sent a letter to was DBM but I was referred to DOs (division offices),” Magalong said.
