IRA FUNDS. Village officials show their checks of PHP100,000 each as part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao subsidy to non-IRA recipient villages in Maguindanao. They received the checks Monday (April 18, 2022) from Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo (center in dark blue jacket) at the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government office in Cotabato City. (Photo courtesy of MILG-BARMM)
COTABATO CITY – Eleven barangays of the Maguindanao town of Salibo received subsidies from the internal revenue allotment (IRA) to support their operations, a Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) official said Tuesday.
Ministry of the Interior and Local Government chief Naguib Sinarimbo said the barangays have not received their IRA share since 2009 because these areas were created during the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the forerunner of BARMM.
As such, these villages were excluded in the regular IRA budgeting, Sinarimbo said, adding that BARMM has 47 non-IRA villages.
“Last year, we programmed in the 2022 BARMM budget the provision of monthly subsidy to a total of 47 non-IRA barangays in the region,” he said.
“This is a transitional support until we can regularize these barangays under the provisions of the Bangsamoro Local Governance Code and be entitled to regular IRA recipients,” Sinarimbo added.
During the transition period, he said non-IRA barangays will receive a monthly subsidy of PHP100,000 to fund their operations.
Prior to Monday's distribution of IRA funds to Salibo's village officials, Sinarimbo said the barangay officials underwent a seminar workshop to orient them on proper fund utilization.
“We hope that this will further enhance service delivery at the level of the barangays,” Sinarimbo said. (PNA)
IRAs are equivalent to 40 percent of national taxes collected three years prior to the planned fiscal year, as mandated by Republic Act No, 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991. (PNA)
