DBP Special Citation on Local Fiscal Management
Infanta, Quezon

The Special Citation on Local Fiscal Management is a partnership between Galing Pook Foundation, the Economic Policy Reform Agenda (EPRA) Project and the Development Bank of the Philippines. The Special Citation hopes to draw attention to the need for stronger financial performance among LGUs.

The Special Citation was implemented parallel to the regular Galing Pook Awards, whereby its 19 Finalists were subjected to the fiscal management evaluation tools and performance benchmarks. To win the citation, the LGU must show declining dependence on internal revenue allotments (IRA) for the last three years and increasing importance of local revenues as indicated in growth in collection from local sources. The LGU should also exhibit good performance when it comes to its ratio of local revenues in relation to the local budget and local revenue collection per capita. Elasticity of local income (or percent change in collection relative to percent change in Gross Regional Domestic Product) was also evaluated.

The Municipality of Infanta in Quezon is recognized for its good fiscal performance compared with the other LGU finalists, considering the difficulties that the LGU encountered in managing its resources. Infanta has been challenged by physical disasters and to be able to accomplish so much deserves recognition.

Its IRA has been declining from 83 percent to 81 percent of total revenues and its locally generated revenues account for 14.71 percent of total revenues. The LGU uses its powers to raise non-tax revenues well. Non-tax revenues accounted for 8.0 percent of total revenues compared to a national average of 6.52 percent.

Infanta also displayed buoyant growth rates in collection. Local sources grew by 25.17 percent compared to a 6.42 percent IRA increase. Tax collection grew by 41.19 percent in 2006 and non-tax collection rose by 56.0 percent. These growth rates exceeded the average growth rates for all municipalities which were used as benchmarks.