Baguio City hailed as prototype city

by Jezrael Tagapulot

Baguio City has been selected as one of the prototype Local Government Units (LGU) by the Local Governance Reform Project (LGRP) at PICC Complex on May 11 in Pasay City.

Baguio was chosen to be the prototype city after Mayor Benjamin Magalong signed the City Council Resolution 209, series of 2023. This resolution is to approve the participation of the city government in the LGRP.

According to the Manila Times, the said project has documents stating that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided an LGRP to the Government of the Philippines over a period of four years from 2020 to 2024 to help improve the local government revenue mobilization that builds the capacity of LGU in developing public services.

There are four outputs of the LGRP which are; (i) institutional development and policy support for poverty valuation strengthened; (ii) property tax valuation database and information systems implemented; (iii) real property taxation or selected prototype LGUs enhanced; and (iv) local assessors professionalized, the measure added.

Furthermore, Baguio City Public Information Office (BCPIO) states that the LGRP has four components which include Output 2 (OP2) which specializes in the improvement of real property tax administration and management reforms. This includes the development of a real property valuation database and information system among others.

During the acceptance speech, Magalong said that he was delighted because of the trust and confidence given by the Department of Finance, the Bureau of Local Government Finance, and the Asian Development Bank for being chosen as the prototype LGU’s under Component 2 of LGRP.

“We believe that this is a significant step forward in the development of our LGUs, and we're grateful for the opportunity to participate in this initiative,” the mayor said.