National government owes Php 723 million to LGUs

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=780717
• Wednesday, July 8, 2015

By Crescencio "Cris" Diaz [(PNA), CTB/CD]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 8 (PNA) – The national government owes Php 723 million out of “fire fees” it has collected from 2010 to 2013 here, a city councilor said Wednesday.

Councilor Ramon Tabor said a Resolution No. 12080-2015 passed during the regular session last Monday, asked the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to remit the amount to the city treasury.

Tabor, chair of the city council committee on police, fire and public safety, said that the Commission on Audit (COA) reported that the national government failed to remit the Php 723 million shares from the “Fire Code Fees” to the local government units.

“The sharing of the fire fees is mandated under Republic Act 9514, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Fire Code of the Philippines,” Tabor said.

The COA findings covered the three three-year period from 2010 to 2013. Including the year 2014, it is likely that the amount due to the local government units (LGUs) would balloon to Php 1 Billion, Tabor said.

Tabor said that the Fire Code of the Philippines mandates that the 20-percent of the collected fees should go to the LGUs, while the 80-percent will go to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

“Now we know why the local government units, including Cagayan De Oro City, have dilapidated fire trucks,” he said.

He said that the remittance of the share of the fire fees is very important for the LGUs and the BFP to acquire state-of-the-art firefighting units and equipment for BFP personnel.