TREASURERS of local government units are now required to include in their quarterly and annual financial reports to the Department of Finance (DOF) all environment and natural resources revenues and expenditures, particularly payments made by mining and other extractive industries to their respective local governments.
In a statement on Thursday, the DOF explained that since 2011, local treasurers have been required to report to the DOF on a quarterly and annual basis the fiscal and financial operations of their respective LGUs through the electronic Statement of Receipts and Expenditure (eSRE) system.
Under Department Order 049-2016, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd has mandated local treasurers to include in their regular eSRE reports, from here on, all payments made by extractive industries along with the detailed account of the shares from national wealth and their local governments’ expenditures using the receipts/collections from these businesses and from the development and utilization of national wealth.
Other monetary and non-monetary benefits received by local governments from extractives industries must also be included in their quarterly eSRE reports to the DOF.
“It’s high time for local treasurers to properly account for what the extractive and related sectors contribute to local economies, and how the local communities benefit from them and from the utilization of their natural resources,” Dominguez said.
Source: Manila Times
By Mayvelin U. Caraballo
1 December 2016
