LGUs get P203.14M SBMA Revenue Shares
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT –– Olongapo City received the biggest disbursement in the latest release of revenue shares by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
Some P203.14 million were distributed on August 19 to adjacent local government units (LGUs) that benefit from the semi-annual revenue shares from the SBMA.
SBMA Chair and Administrator Wilma Eisma released to the respective chief executives the individual checks for the seven municipalities and a city, as follows: Olongapo City with P47.24 million, followed by Subic with P31.05 million; San Marcelino, P26.34 million; Dinalupihan, P25.26 million; Hermosa, P21.15 million; Castillejos, P19.01 million; Morong, P17.65 million; and San Antonio, P17.41 million.
Records show that since February 2011, the SBMA had already given P2.07 billion to these LGUs.
The LGU share is determined according to population (50 per cent), land area (25 per cent), and equal sharing (25 per cent), which explains why Olongapo, a highly-urbanized city, receives the biggest share.
Eisma said the LGU shares are given to beef up local resources and enable stakeholder communities to conduct development projects in health, education, peace and order, and livelihood generation.
“This is another way by which the SBMA promotes inclusive growth in the locality, aside from generating employment opportunities for local workers,” Eisma said.
“While we don’t have any means to determine how the shares are utilized, we hope that these will be used for the communities to keep pace with developments in the Subic Bay Freeport,” she added.
The mayors gave assurances that the funds would be spent to further develop their respective communities.
Mayor Rolen Paulino Jr. of Olongapo said the shares he received would go for development projects that would benefit the people of the city, while Mayor Jonathan Khonghun of Subic said that their share would provide for scholarship grants to deserving residents of the municipality. Both are neophyte mayors who won in the recent elections.
The SBMA began releasing the shares directly to the LGUs, after a new tax collection scheme was implemented in August 2010. Previously, corporate taxes were remitted first to the national government, which would then distribute the LGU shares.
