Vice Governor Isidro Zayco yesterday said the cut in the Internal Revenue Allotments of the 13 cities in Negros Occidental will affect the entire province because it will mean close to P500 million out of circulation.

The 120 cities under the League of Cities of the Philippines Monday began a protest against the creation of 16 new cities by Congress, saying they did not meet the income and population requirements mandated by law.

The creation of the new cities also means the existing 120 cities, instead of getting an additional 14.3 percent additional IRA, will only get 4.7 percent, the LCP said.

Zayco said he hopes the Supreme Court rules against the creation by Congress of the 16 new cities for failure to meet requirements mandated by law.

Congress should abide by the law that requires a town to be converted into a city, to be able to generate an annual income of P100 million, have a 150,000 population, and 100 square kilometers land area, he said.

Zayco also said he hopes Congress does not approve the proposed conversion of another 27 capital towns into cities.

La Carlota Mayor Demie John Honrado yesterday said the creation of the 16 new cities makes a cut in his city's IRA share of P23 million, which could have been used for a lot of projects that would have benefited his constituents.

Vice Mayor Francis Frederick Palanca said instead of getting an IRA increase of P28 million, Victorias City only got P5 million, or a cut of P23 million, too.

On Monday, the mayors of the 11 other cities of Negros Occidental placed their total IRA cuts at about P434 million.*CPG

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