Capitol income slightly increases amid pandemic

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu provincial government is still on track when it comes to revenue collection for the first nine months of the year amid the coronavirus disease pandemic.

The data obtained by The Freeman from the Provincial Treasurer’s Office showed that the province has gained P687.7 million from its locally sourced revenue from January to September 2020, an increase of 2.61 percent from P670.2 million for the same period last year.

The General Fund stands at P582.7 million while the Special Education Fund is at P105 million.

Though in general the total revenue collection has slightly increased, there are aspects on the sources of fund of the Province that decreased.

Based on the comparative analysis of the Province’s revenue for calendar year 2019 and 2020, there’s a decrease of 7.81 percent on the total tax revenue collected from P154 million in 2019 to P142 million this year.

Included in the collections that record a decrease are the amusement tax from P2.754 million last year to P2.603 this year; professional tax with P1.131million last year to P1.034 this year; property transfer tax that reached P27.9 million to P15.5 million this year or a decrease of 44.45 percent; real property tax-current with P69.3 million last year to P64.8 million this year or a decrease of 6.56 percent.

The fines and penalties-RPT has also decreased 25.35 percent from P6.3 million in January to September 2019 to P4.7 million in the same period of 2020, as well as the fines and penalties for local taxes that recorded 66 percent decrease from P7.4 million last year to P2.5 million this year.

Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre said they already expected this as taxpayers are amongst who have been affected by the pandemic.

“Ato na na expected kay sa pagkakaron, wala man kaayo kabayad ang mga tax payers kay primero ang ilang accessibility and second ila pud sources, so we hope on the beginning of next year or end of this year maka-recover ta, makabayad na sila,” Salubre told The Freeman.

For the non-tax revenues in total for nine months, the increase recorded at 15.69 percent. Also with the collection from the district hospitals that recorded also a 8.65 percent increase from P266 million in January to September 2019 to P289.8 million in the same period this year.

The Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) collection is also among the affected income generating facilities of Cebu Province due to Covid-19 pandemic after its original facility was temporarily closed for several months when the community quarantine restrictions were implemented.

The CSBT that earned P49.9 million from the first nine months of 2019 has now a total collection of only P18.1 million in the same period of 2020, a decrease of 63.63 percent.

Despite the low income generated in some of its revenue collections, the Capitol is still positive it can achieve its target this year.

“Definitely duna gyud tay nakita nga gamay nga kahayag nga ma-meet gyud nato atong target at the end of the year,” Salubre said. — GMR (FREEMAN)