Oriental Mindoro province secured first place for highest year-on-year growth in locally sourced revenues among provinces in MIMAROPA region, according to awards presented by the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF).

The recognition came during the four-day year-end assessment and conference of the Regional Association of Treasurers and Assessors (RegATA) held December 3-6, 2025 at Camp Benjamin in Alfonso, Cavite, presided over by BLGF Acting Regional Director Dennis T. Cunag.

Oriental Mindoro garnered 10 awards in various fiscal performance categories, including second place rankings for year-on-year growth in economic enterprises, taxable assessed value, and collection efficiency in economic enterprises.

The province also placed second in compliance with overall submission of local government unit (LGU) reports and special education fund budget disbursement rate.

The provincial government secured third-place honors in four additional categories: year-on-year growth in real property tax and business tax, nominal locally-sourced revenues, and compliance in submission of Quarterly Report on Real Property Tax Assessment (QRRPA) reports.

The Provincial Treasurer’s Office and Provincial Assessor’s Office jointly received recognition for achieving the highest collection efficiency in real property tax in the entire region.

Jay Papio, a local assessment operations officer at the Provincial Assessor’s Office, was named third-ranked top performing QRRPA focal person.

Several municipalities in Oriental Mindoro also received awards.

Bansud topped compliance in submission of LGU reports and placed second in highest collection efficiency in economic enterprises.

Bulalacao ranked first in local development fund disbursement rate, while Bongabong came in second for compliance in LGU report submission.

Former Provincial Treasurer Annabelle Gardoce accepted the awards on behalf of the province and municipalities.

BLGF, under the Department of Finance, monitors and evaluates the fiscal performance of local government units.

Locally sourced revenues are critical indicators of a province’s fiscal autonomy and economic vitality, consisting primarily of real property taxes, business taxes, and fees from economic enterprises.

The recognition system encourages competition among LGUs to improve revenue collection efficiency and compliance with national reporting requirements.

Real property tax collection efficiency has been a longstanding challenge for Philippine LGUs, with the national average collection rate historically below 60 percent.

Higher collection rates indicate improved tax administration and property valuation systems.

The awards assessment covered fiscal performance metrics from the 2024-2025 fiscal year.