MOST people are unaware that their barangays have budgets that could amount to millions of pesos because of their respective shares in the IRA or internal revenue allotment of the cities or towns they are part of.
They should be aware that for 2018, the national budget has these allocations for local governments, among others:
* P522.75 billion IRA
* P7 billion Local Government Support Fund – Financial Assistance to LGUs
* P2.59 billion – LGSF – Assistance to Cities
* P1 billion – Performance Challenge Fund
* P2.178 billion – DILG GAA Special Provisions
Of the P522.75 billion for IRA, the 41,902 barangays, as one group, get P103.25 billion!
But the IRA share that barangays are receiving from the national government is oftentimes insufficient to fund their programs and services. Some barangays are also receiving substantially less than the others because of the sharing formula established in existing laws. Because of this, many of the poor barangays, especially in the undeveloped and underdeveloped areas in the countryside, lack the necessary resources to provide the basic services to their constituents.
There’s a pending bill in Congress that could address this: House Bill 7493 or the proposed Barangay Equalization Fund Act. It seeks to include in the annual General Appropriations Act a “Barangay Equalization Fund” for every barangay. This fund would be on top of the IRA share that each barangay is already receiving from the national government. The appropriation of each barangay shall be based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s income classification of the city or municipality in which the barangay belongs.
The indispensable role of barangays in nation-building necessitates that Congress provide it with sufficient resources in order to address the most basic needs of the people, as well as ensure their economic development.
