Quezon City Is Philippines’ Richest LGU – DOF

The Quezon City government once again emerged as the best performing local government unit (LGU) in terms of revenue generation last year.

The Department of Finance (DOF)’s Bureau of Local Government Finance (DOF-BLGF) said on Wednesday, Aug. 3, that Quezon City, headed by Mayor Joy Belmonte, was able to collect P22.92 billion in locally sourced revenues in 2021, the highest among LGUs nationwide.

The DOF-BLGF also included Quezon City in its local revenue generation hall of fame after it topped the same category for three years since 2018.

Data showed that the revenues generated by Quezon City increased by four percent from P22.04 billion in 2020. These included real property tax, local business tax, fees and charges, and other receipts from economic enterprises.

The local revenue generation Hall of Fame is a special category for LGUs that attained exemplary performance in local revenue collection for the past three consecutive years in each performance area.

To receive this, an LGU must consistently make it to the top 10 national awardees for three straight years.

Three provinces, cities and municipalities are selected for the hall of fame.

Quezon City ranked first in the hall of fame award for having secured the top spot since 2018.

The cities of Makati, with 13.77-billion revenue collection, and Manila, 11.56 billion, ranked second and third, respectively.

“We are honored to share this milestone with every QCitizen. Because of your continued trust and support of our administration, we have been able to increase our annual local revenue by more than P10 billion since we assumed office,” Belmonte said.

QC treasurer Ed Villanueva said the strong commitment of the Belmonte administration to good governance has remained the most important driver of the city’s success in terms of tax collection.

“Our QCitizens have seen significant improvements in the way they transact with the city. In various ways, they have expressed their satisfaction with the quality of programs and services that were made available to them. They trust that their hard-earned money would translate into efficient public services for all,” Villanueva added.

The streamlining efforts of the city, which includes the use of online QC e-services and the establishment of satellite offices for tax payment, has helped ease processes and encouraged more business owners to settle their dues, according to the treasurer.

He said Belmonte’s decision to allow a staggered payment scheme for under-declared and undeclared business taxes, instead of imposing hefty penalties, encouraged businessmen to settle their obligations.

Aside from those with highest local revenues collected, the DOF-BLGF also recognized the most efficient LGUs in terms of actual collection compared with their original target and year-on-year growth in locally sourced revenues.

Navotas and the provinces of Capiz and Negros Oriental were included in the hall of fame for collection efficiency.

The DOF-BLGF encouraged all LGUs to continuously improve their local revenue generation through appropriate collection strategies and innovations.

Apart from Quezon City, Makati and Manila, other cities that made it to the top 10 in terms of revenue generation are Taguig with P10.75 billion and Pasig with P8.69 billion.

Completing the top 10 revenue collectors are Parañaque, Pasay, Mandaluyong, Valenzuela and Davao, the lone city outside Metro Manila.

Also included in the highest locally sourced revenues hall of fame are Bataan, Bulacan and Rizal for provinces as well as Limay in Bataan, Cainta in Rizal and Carmona in Cavite for municipalities.

Rizal ranked first among provinces that made it to the top 10 in terms of revenue generation. It is followed by Bulacan, Pampanga, Quezon, Bataan, Batangas, Iloilo, Cavite, Bukidnon and Cebu.