Highlights from the Meeting of Eagles in Cotobato
On September 12, 2006, the local chief executives of Maguindanao met in Cotabato to brainstorm possible ways of financing education. Dr. Guevara and Ms. Jocelyn Pioquid facilitated their workshop on revenue generation.
The group discussion started with the current ways of sourcing revenues for the LGUs. Dr. Guevara made a heavy note on too much reliance of the Mayors on the internal revenue allotment (IRA) coming from the national government. She informed them of the consequence of this type of dependence. This is where the value of RPT and SEF comes into view. From the session, they learned the advantages of these kinds of revenue generation such as:
- There is a steady source of collection;
- Tax base is permanent;
- Funding for education programs is assured through SEF and benefit from tax is seen.
As much as these seem appealing to the Mayors, they also noted the ugly side of the RPT and SEF. Among these are:
- LGUs cannot force people to pay taxes, especially if the constituents do not see good service from them;
- Lack of awareness regarding the importance of tax payments;
- There are no laws being implemented against tax evaders.
Having realized these trade-offs, the Mayors were challenged on how to address the said difficulties. That is where the Synergeia programs come in. They concluded that if they can showcase the results of the Synergeia project as a result of the LGU effort, then they can encourage their citizens to pay their taxes. In fact, the event was also a celebration of their successes. In North Upi, there is a 40% improvement in the reading proficiency of the students. In Barira, reading skills increased to 47%.
With such visible results, they came to the following agreement with regard to increasing their tax collections:
- Present the education program as benefits from taxes paid to LGUs;
- Launch tax education program through a simple briefer on the SEF;
- Give incentives and recognition to the taxpayers, e.g., the Mayor of Upi has instituted a free motorcycle raffle ticket for every 500 pesos of taxes paid to encourage tax payment;
- Issue tax bill reminders every quarter;
- Launch advocacy programs through beauty contests, parades, etc;
There were some suggestions towards the end of the meeting. First, the issue of expansion was brought up. The group discussed the criteria for expanding the program to other municipalities in ARMM. It was agreed that there must be a genuine interest of the mayor to pursue education reform and that other Mayors should be ready to support the new member. Second, quarterly meetings of the mayors should be hosted in their respective towns.  
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