TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The city government was compelled to defer the construction of a 100-bed city owned and managed hospital because of the significant reduction on the city’s National Tax Allocation (NATA) for this year following the implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia doctrine that was decided upon by the Supreme Court (SC).
Mayor Darwin C. Estran֮ero said that the earlier plan to put up the city-owned and managed hospital will be subjected to another round of feasibility study to ascertain whether or not the city government will be able to sustain its operation amidst the projected reduction on the city’s NATA in the next several years.
He pointed out that the P240 million reduction on the city’s NATA for this year because of the significantly reduced income of the government during the COVID-19 pandemic and another P3 million deduction because of the creation of two additional cities had greatly impacted on the priority programs, projects and activities of the local government for the current year.
The city government disclosed that the city had to forego the funding of some P125 million worth of projects under the local development plan, P25 million for the hiring of job order personnel to help in the implementation of waste management programs and projects and another P75 million supposedly earmarked for other priority programs of concerned offices for the current year.
“We had to implement some belt-tightening measures to mitigate the effects of the significant reduction in our national tax allocation for this year. We want to sustain a balanced budget to avoid incurring deficiencies which will greatly affect the city’s status in the future,” Mayor Estran֮ero stressed.
According to him, the results of the study will serve as a basis whether or not the city government will pursue the implementation of the hospital project which is geared towards helping enhance the delivery of basic health care services to the people not only from the city but also from the different parts of the province.
Earlier, the city government planned to put up a 100-bed city-owned and managed hospital within a 5-hectare property of the city to contribute in enhancing the delivery of health care services to the people.
The proposed hospital will be funded from a loan that was earlier obtained by the local government from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) which was aimed at prioritizing the implementation of various priority projects to improve the city’s state of infrastructure and improve the delivery of basic services.
Tabuk recently celebrated its 73rd anniversary as a community by virtue of Republic Act (RA) 533 signed on June 16, 1950 and its 16th city anniversary by virtue of RA 9404 that was signed on June 24, 2007 as well as the 22nd Matagoan festival the city being the declared City of Life in the Cordillera.
Estran֮ero expressed hope that the put up of the city-owned and managed hospital will be realized in the future because the enhancement of the delivery of healthcare services is one of the major thrusts of his administration to sustain the productivity of the people.
