PARAÑAQUE City announced it generated about P5.3 billion in revenue from taxes and other fees collected in 2019.
The city’s treasury office reported that the local government unit (LGU) was able to reserve a P1.3-billion time deposit account to a state-owned bank and another P400-million short-term time deposit account to a semi-government bank.
The LGU’s real property collections last year reached P2.2 billion, or almost double the proposed target of P1.1 billion imposed by the Department of Finance.
“The increase was brought about by the taxpayers’ compliance and investors’ confidence in the city government and local leaders,” a statement from Parañaque City said.
Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez attributed the LGU’s improved economy to effective collection of taxes.
Parañaque’s annual proposed budget grew by more than triple to P10 billion in 2019, from merely P3.3 billion in 2013.
Olivarez also announced the city will provide a monthly allowance to all public elementary, high-school and senior high-school students in the city starting this school year.
Previously, grade school students from state-funded schools were exempted from the P500 30-day allowance given by the city.
But beginning this June, around 108,000 of them will benefit from the LGU’s monetary assistance out of the P54-million annual interest alone in time deposit accounts, according to City Treasurer Anthony I. Pulmano.
The city said projects in the pipeline include monthly supply of medicines, particularly for hypertension and other diseases, for the elderly and persons with disabilities in the city.