At the House ad hoc panel hearing on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), Abad said the Aquino administration has committed to grant a special development fund (SDF), transition fund and an infrastructure development fund to the envisioned autonomous region on top of the block grant indicated in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
According to Abad, a total of P17 billion in SDF will be released to the proposed Bangsamoro region over a period of seven years. The transition fund, meanwhile, will amount to P1 billion.
“The region is one of the poorest regions. Our role is to focus on a policy or program that will allow the ARMM to catch up,” Abad said.
The Bangsamoro bill, or House Bill 4994, will formalize the creation of the new political entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Under the Bangsamoro bill, a block grant equivalent to four percent of the net internal revenue of the Bureau of Internal Revenue minus the internal revenue allotments (IRA) of local government units (LGUs) shall be automatically appropriated to the Bangsamoro region yearly.
The block grant should not go below the ARMM’s P20.5 billion budget for 2014, Abad said.
Reasonable level
While the block grant is a new feature of the proposed legislation, government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the automatic appropriation is comparable to the internal revenue allotment received by LGUs.
Abad said the four percent computation for the block grant was a product of several discussions between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the national government and other sectors.
“Right now, [the four percent] appears to be the reasonable level to start with,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the hearing.
He noted that aside from the block grants and subsidies, appropriations for the Bangsamoro region will continue to be included in the annual budgets of government agencies, especially for basic education, poverty alleviation and infrastructure.
Constituent LGUs of the new autonomous region will also continue to receive their P18 billion IRA yearly.
And although President Benigno Aquino III only has two years left, Abad said some of the subsidies Malacañang initiated will continue after 2016.
As stated in HB 4994, the Bangsamoro will retain all the taxes collected in the region for 10 years. The period of retention may be extended upon mutual agreement of the national and Bangsamoro governments.
“The SDF, that’s for five years. The infrastructure development fund, that’s going to go on for five years. There’s a substantial amount [to be] given beyond the President’s term,” Abad said.
One-half fiscal autonomy
For former National Treasurer and Social Watch convenor Leonor Briones, providing a block grant to the proposed Bangsamoro region defeats the purpose of granting it autonomy, since it should be able to generate its own revenues.
“If you have the situation that you can spend the budget as you desire but you have to get the funding from the national government, that’s not fiscal autonomy. That’s one-half fiscal autonomy in spending but dependency in the matter of revenue sharing,” she said.
Ferrer said the proposed Bangsamoro region should be given time to stand on its feet. HB 4994 provides that the block grant will be deducted from the earnings from taxes imposed by the Bangsamoro government beginning the fourth year of its operation.
“This is for less dependency from the government as soon as the Bangsamoro is able to generate is able to generate income of their own,” she said.
According to BIR Commissioner Kim Henares, ARMM contributed only P1.8 billion to national coffers in 2013. —KBK, GMA News
