FINANCE Secretary Ralph Recto is set to meet the League of Cities this week to discuss the computation of the National Tax Allotment (NTA) shares for local government units (LGUs).
This comes after Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, along with the anti-corruption movement group, Mayors for Good Governance sought for a meeting with Recto to discuss how much LGUs should actually receive as they seem to be “shortchanged.”
Magalong said in previous reports based on estimates, LGUs are receiving only 31 percent from national taxes instead of 40 percent.
Recto, in a statement yesterday, assured LGUs the national government is strictly adhering to transparency and accountability, especially with the principles set by the Supreme Court, in implementing the Mandanas-Garcia ruling.
“Nothing is shortchanged. We are very much welcome and open to having continued dialogues with our LGUs to help them strengthen their fiscal capacities and optimize resource utilization to deliver more and better services to Filipinos,” Recto said.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released Local Budget Memorandum No. 90-A last December 26, which showed the 2025 NTA shares of LGUs is at P1.03 trillion, which will be distributed to 43,634 LGUs.
In comparison, last year, the NTA shares of LGUs stood at P871.38 billion, which benefitted 43,622 LGUs, DBM data showed.
The 2019 Mandanas-Garcia ruling of the Supreme Court (SC), which took effect in 2022, increased the NTA shares of LGUs to 40 percent of all national taxes beyond those collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
The adjustment was intended to enhance the fiscal autonomy of LGUs by granting them a more substantial share of the national tax base.
