After the approval of the latest survey on Laoag City’s land area to 128.38 square kilometers, city officials are expecting a P6 million increase on the city government’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share for this year.

The approval was announced by Laoag City Mayor Michael V. Fariñas after he met with Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Michael Defensor, who was in the city recently as he served as the guest of honor and speaker during the induction ceremonies of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Ilocos Norte Chapter.

Earlier, city officials were expecting the total land area of the city to increase only to 116 square kilometers from its 2001 total land area.

With the approval of the latest land area survey, Fariñas expressed hopes that the automatic increase in the IRA share of the city would also take effect soon.

Presently, the city government receives P12,764,390 monthly, or P153,172,724 annually.

With the increase in the city’s total land area, city officials estimate the increase in the IRA share to be at least P6 million annually.

Fariñas also mentioned that further increase in the city’s IRA share is expected after the census for Laoag City has been validated by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

In view of this, City Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Director Reynaldo Garo said the city’s barangay officials had started monitoring students and transients in their respective barangays who had been residing in Laoag for at least six months to be included in the census.

A city’s total land area and total population are among the bases in the computation of its IRA share.

However, in an interview with Ms Carlina Cumigad, city budget officer, The Ilocos Times learned that the city government had not yet received the supposed increase in its IRA share as of March this year as the share received was the same rate given to the local government unit in the past years.

Dominic B. dela Cruz