Monday, January 19, 2009
[ sunstar.com.ph ]
By Ian Ocampo Flora
ANGELES CITY -- Balibago Barangay Captain Tony Mamac said on Sunday that most of the barangay captains here have not received their shares from this city's Real Property Tax (RPT) collection.
His statement contradicts those made by City Administrator Mark Allen Sison.
While Sison claimed last week that the January to September 2008 RPT shares were already released, most of the barangay captains have not received their July to September 2008 shares, according to Mamac.
The village chief even showed Sun.Star Pampanga the list of barangay captains who have received only their shares from January to June 2008.
"As per our record, some of the barangay captains have not fully received their RPT shares. We urge the City Government to release these immediately because barangays use these for their different community projects," Mamac said.
Late last year, barangay captains here wrote Mayor Francis "Blueboy" Nepomuceno a letter, asking him to immediately intervene in the delay in the distribution of RPT shares to various barangays here.
The shares of the barangays are 30 percent of the RPT collected by the City Government in their respective jurisdictions.
The barangay captains stated that they were contemplating on resorting to legal means if the RPTs are not released on time.
Around P22 million is set to be released to all the barangays here.
Among those in the list include Barangay Sto. Cristo, which received P31,370 for June 2007; Barangay Sta. Teresita with P9,000 for the month of June 2007; and Barangay Sto. Rosario with a meager share of P10,000 for the same month.
Barangay Pandan, on the other hand, is still languishing with its March 2007 share of P30,000.
The barangay is under the leadership of village chief Jerry Alejandrino, who had a tug-of-war for the Liga ng mga Barangay presidency with Nepomuceno's brother, Cutcut Barangay Captain Robin Nepomuceno last year.
Sison earlier assured that all the RPT shares of the barangays have been given from the period of January to March this year and that the remaining obligation of the City Government would be the released. He added that the RPTs and tax credits for the remaining months are already being processed.
"There is a delay because the RPTs were deposited in a trust fund but the check book for the account was not immediately released," Sison said, adding that the RPTs and the tax credit would be released soon.
Mamac, a known Nepomuceno supporter, said barangays may not operate entirely well and deliver basic social services without enough funding through the RPT shares.
Most less-privileged barangays, he said, would be greatly affected, as the slow release of RPTs would result in the "protracted delivery of basic services."
