Bureau of Local Government Finance Opinion

June 16, 2015 BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE OPINION 1st Indorsement Respectfully returned to the OIC-City Treasurer, Manila, his attached letter dated June 3, 2014 relative to City Council Resolution No. 106 series of 2013 urging the City Mayor to create a Revenue Monitoring Committee composed of members from the Executive and Legislative Departments and Executive Order No. 39, series of 2013 creating the City Revenue Monitoring Committee (CRMC). That Office stated that the CRMC's ostensible function is to "monitor the collection of revenues, taxes, and fees by the various revenue earning agencies of the City of Manila" . However, the CRMC has, among other things, the following operational guidelines, to wit: a. All revenue generating offices/departments shall submit to CRMC a list of business establishments to be inspected/examined and the revenue officers or inspectors to be assigned PRIOR to the issuance of Letter of Authority (LOA) or Mission order; HTcADC b. Revenue officers and inspectors shall accomplish a Data and Assessment Sheets and submit to the Chairman of CRMC for review and evaluation . The Chairman of CRMC shall submit his evaluation and recommendation to the Mayor for approval before final assessments are issued and payments made to the City Treasurer's Office. It is the view of that Office that strict compliance with the foregoing directives causes not only demoralization among some personnel but even unnecessary delays in the collection of proper taxes and may create a situation wherein findings and assessments of the examiners, upon review, are thus modified and altered by the Review Committee. Hence, the request for proper guidance from this Bureau. In this connection, please be advised that your requested action requires the interpretation of the provisions of Republic Act No. 7160 otherwise known as the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991. To this end, this Bureau cannot issue the requested guidance as the interpretation of the provisions of the LGC is properly within the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). For your reference, we quote partly Department of Justice (DOJ) Opinion No. 52, series of 2005 below: "The resolution of the issue raised would inevitably involve an interpretation and/or examination of the provisions of the Local Government Code of 1991. The interpretation and application of the provisions of the Local Government Code of 1991, however, properly fall within the jurisdiction of the Oversight committee and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) as the lead agency designated by the President in the implementation of the said Code. " (Emphasis supplied) aScITE Be guided accordingly. (SGD.) SALVADOR M. DEL CASTILLO OIC-Executive Director