After “drowning in a P5-billion debt,” Manila now is debt-free, Mayor Joseph Estrada said on Thursday.
“Today, the city of Manila is debt-free. We have paid our arrears,” he said in his speech during an event of the Philippine Society for Public Administration.
“We are now rebuilding the City of Manila. It is the capital of the Philippines alright, but when I assumed as mayor, I discovered it has no capital,” Estrada added.
The mayor noted that Manila had an unpaid electrical bill amounting to almost P1 billion, of which about P600 million was long overdue.
The city also had an outstanding water bill of more than P57 million, Estrada said.
“When I took over, I was worried everyday that I will come to office when there is no electricity and no water,” he said.
On top of these, the city has not remitted withholding tax collections to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the employees’ contributions to the Government Service Insurance System and to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
“I will not burden you with the other wicked problems we faced…There are still many that remain but we are addressing them one by one,” he added.
Estrada said during his term, the city government took initiatives to launch some seemingly unpopular policies, such as the updating of the fair market values of real properties in Manila which remained unchanged for the past 20 years.
Manila was only one of two local government units in the National Capital Region that was able to update real property values.
He said they also adjusted local tax rates, as well as fees and charges for licenses and permits while improving tax collections.
“Obviously, without good revenues, we cannot deliver even the most basic services. It takes much political will and determination to do these,” Estrada said.
Manila’s revaluation of real property taxes more than doubled the local government’s revenues from only P3 billion in 2012 to P6.7 billion in 2015. It is expected to reach P7 billion this year.
Estrada said the city has spent more than P6 billion in infrastructure projects, including building and rebuilding roads, schools, and modernizing health facilities.
The local government also built 22 schools and have taken steps toward modernizing the city’s seven public markets.