Local governments will get an extra P5.6 billion in 2020 as their 40-percent share in the annual proceeds from the development of the national wealth in their respective areas, Deputy Speaker and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said Sunday.
“The new money is in the P4.1-trillion 2020 budget, and will be distributed to provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays where the economic utilization of resources such as energy reserves and mineral deposits is generating not only gainful employment, but also additional income for the national government,” Pimentel said.
“The P5.6 billion is 75 percent higher than the P3.2-billion share of local governments this year in the money obtained from the productive use of the national wealth within their jurisdictions,” he added.
The Local Government Code provides that in addition to their Internal Revenue Allotment, local governments are entitled to 40 percent of the National Treasury’s annual gross earnings “from mining taxes, royalties from mineral reservations, forestry charges, and fees and revenues collected from energy resources” in their vicinity.
“Under the law, once the local governments receive their portions, they have to use the money to fund local development and livelihood projects,” Pimentel said.
“In the case of local governments that get their shares from the harvest of energy assets, they must use at least 80 percent of the money solely to reduce the cost of electricity in the communities that supplied the resources.”
Just like in the past, Pimentel said regions that produce a lot of hydrothermal, geothermal and wind energy, as well as those with plenty of metallic mineral and coal mining activities, are expected to get the bulk of the new money.
