COUNCILOR El Cid Familiaran insisted that two-thirds vote of all the members of the City Council is needed to pass the Revised Revenue Code of Bacolod covered under City Ordinance 565, series of 2011.
He cited Article 99 of the Implementing Rules and Regulation of the Local Government Code which states: “with concurrence of at least 2/3 of all the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (City Council) grant tax exemption, incentives or reliefs to entities engaged in community growth-inducing industries, subject to the provisions of Chapter 5, Title I, Book II of the Code.” Familiaran was the presiding officer when the bill was voted upon. He made his reservation to it, considering that the members of the council passed this bill with a simple majority vote and not 2/3 as he cited. “My belief until now, it needs 2/3 or ten votes and not eight votes. We have approved the revenue increase and at the same time the exemption. It is very clear in the Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR),” he said. He ruled that the ordinance was lost because it failed to get the number of votes required. But they overruled him. Thus, he signed the ordinance with reservation. The appeal filed by the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) and the Bacolod Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry before the Department of Justice also questioned the legality of the passage of the ordinance. The bill has procedural lapses, he said. He added that the reduction in the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of the city of more or less P78 million was reduced by half. The Office of the President has returned half of it and Bacolod’s IRA deficit is now pegged at approximately P39 million. He clarified that he is not against imposing an increase in the revenues, as long as it will not be beyond 10 percent of the previous rate. “My personal stand is to increase 10 percent straight. The old revenue code was passed in 1993 and the revised one was in 2011. That allows the LGU to increase by 10 percent every five years,” he said. The court is the final arbiter on this matter. The Department of Justice can only issue an opinion and can be appealed before the Court of Appeals up to the Supreme Court. But it’s good that the City Government officials sat down with the affected sectors with the aim to reach a win-win solution. Carla N. Canet Sun Star Bacolod
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