Dumaguete Mayor Agustin Perdices yesterday said the delivery of basic services might be affected by the unrealized increase in Internal Revenue Allotment shares of cities in the country this year.

Perdices said a big chunk of the projected increase in IRA for cities will not push through, due to the creation of about 16 new cities in the Philippines last year.

He said that, Dumaguete, for instance, will not be able to receive about P20 million of its projected P26 million increase in IRA share for 2008. The city is supposed to get about P206 million IRA, but this will be cut down to about P185 million.

Newly-converted cities, including Guihulngan, in Negros Oriental, located some 117 kilometers north of Dumaguete, will now be entitled to the IRA for cities, previously shared only by 120 cities.

Perdices said some new cities are now even receiving much bigger IRA than old ones. Guihulngan will be receiving this year some P283 million., bigger than the share of Dumaguete, Canlaon, Bais and Tanjay. Bayawan is still the biggest recipient of IRA in the province at P395 million this year.

Last year, the IRA of Guihulngan was only P84.1 million.

This year, the IRA shares of the cities of Canlaon, Bais and Tanjay, are P180 million, P245 million and P235 million, respectively.

Perdices said a criterion in the sharing of IRA is land area. Since Guihulngan has a much bigger land area compared to other cities, its share is also much bigger, he added.

Other requirements for cityhood under the Local Government Code are that, the town must have a locally generated annual income of at least P100 million and a population of not less than 150,000.

Perdices said most of the newly created cities did not qualify, but they were granted exemptions by Congress, prompting the League of Cities to bring the issue to the Supreme Court.

Perdices clarified that the league is not against the creation of new cities, but the criteria must be followed and something must done in order that the share of IRA of cities will not be affected.*RA

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