LC notches 3rd in nat’l finance performance scorecard

File photo of Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas.

By Dominic B. dela Cruz

Staff Reporter

PROVING THAT current financial policies and processes are up to national standards, the Laoag City treasury office placed third in the National Scorecard on Financial Performance Assessment under the city category.

Published on the Department of Finance-run website iskor.blgf.gov.ph, city treasurer Ma. Elena Asuncion said this shows that Laoag is among the top three cities in terms of transparency, good governance and fiscal management performance for the years 2009-2012.

Ms. Asuncion explained that each local government unit was rated based on income classification, revenue generation capacity or the local revenue collection growth, expenditure management, and compliance with reportorial requirements.

As Laoag is a third class city, the DOF and the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) based the city’s scorecard in its revenue generation capacity from 2010-2012. During that period, Laoag experienced increases in the collection of regulatory fees and as a result, a decreased dependency on its internal revenue allotment share.

The actual performance rating of Laoag in 2012 is 84.7 points, or “excellent”, Asuncion stressed.

The rating was based on the Statement of Receipts and Expenditures submitted by the city treasurer’s office to the DOF-BLGF in August 2013 along with reports from the city assessor’s office.

The cities of Tagaytay, Quezon, Laoag, Tanauan, Batangas, Vigan, Davao and Balanga were all given “excellent “ratings.

Cities that were given “very good” ratings are Pasay, Valenzuela, Olongapo, Panabo, Makati, Tuguegarao, Naga, Gapan, Meycauayan, Tagbilaran, Calapan, Talisay, Dumaguete, Toledo, Cauayan and Alaminos.

According to Asuncion, the results show that Laoag is transparent and was given good assessment in terms of good governance as well as the on-time submission of SRE as required by the DOF-BLGF.