City employees join protest vs. IRA cut
Flags were flown at half mast in the city halls of Iloilo and Passi yesterday as city government employees joined the continuing protests of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) against the creation of more cities.
City Hall employees in Iloilo City also wore black arm bands with the slogan "IRA Ibalik" to dramatize their demand to stop the conversion into cities of towns that do not meet income requirements because this have resulted in a drop of the cities' share in the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA). Several employees wore black shirts instead
LCP chair and Iloilo City Jerry Treñas who led the flag raising ceremonies explained to the employees the reason for the protest and the impact of the creation of 16 cities last year to the IRA share of Iloilo. The city's IRA share drop by P36 million because of the new cities.
The IRA is the tax share of local government units, which get 40 centavos of every peso in taxes collected by the government.
"The protests will continue until we get a moratorium," Treñas said in a telephone interview.
In Passi City, 50 km north of this city, the flag was also flown at half mast and the employees also wore black arm bands in protest. This is the second consecutive Monday that they have joined the LCP protest.
The LCP is also opposing Bill 24 authored by Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Ann Hofer which seeks to amend Republic Act 9009 or the Local Government Code by exempting the capital towns of provinces from the income requirements of cityhood.
Under the Local Government Code, a town should have a locally generated income of at least P100 million annually before it could be classified into a city. It should also either have a land area of at least 100 square kilometers or a population of 150,000.