P2B provincial budget endorsed to Provincial Board

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has endorsed to the Provincial Board the proposed 2007 annual budget amounting to P2 billion, which is virtually a restatement of last year's budget.

"Restatement of last year kay continuing biya ta. I have miles to go before I sleep; kilometers to asphalt," she said in a news conference yesterday afternoon.

The governor said her proposed budget for next year is basically a reiteration of her administration's thrust, which is contained in her 12-point agenda.

That is, spending in her administration is targeted towards basic infrastructure, health and social services.

In her budget message to the Provincial Board which was endorsed to the body late in the afternoon, she was proud to announce that the Province of Cebu has consistently shown its "relative independence from the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).

This as the IRA contributes only 48.55 percent of the required funding sources for the annual budget.

"I think our dependency on the IRA stands at 48.5 percent where smaller provinces, usually those that are carved out, dismembered parts from original provinces, have an IRA dependency of up to 90 or 95 percent," she said.

She said this relatively low dependency on IRA by the Province of Cebu is because the province has other sources of income, and precisely due to the fact that "we are number one because we are one."

Capitol's IRA is currently at P971 million but it is expected to go higher in view of the recent approval of the national government's supplemental budget that covers allocation for IRA share of LGUs.

The governor pointed out that while the law has set 45 percent ceiling for allocation on personnel services, she has proposed only 25.5 percent to be allocated for such in next year's annual budget. The amount is a further decrease from the current year's 27 percent.

In general, P810.94 million or 40.51 percent of the total P2,001,971,800 the proposed 2007 annual budget is earmarked for general public services; P745.78 million or 37.25 percent to economic services; and P445.26 million or 22.24 percent of the budget to social services.

The governor pointed out the P300-million allocation for road asphalting in next year's budget is aimed at complementing the earlier total budget of P600 million in the past two years, thus bringing to a total P900 million budget for her thrust to asphalt a total 400 kilometers of provincial roads within her three-year term.

Also set aside in next year's proposed budget is the additional P50-million allocation to last year's original P50 million to be utilized as loan credit facility to LGUs in the province.

Since the proposed 2007 annual budget is virtually a restatement of last year's, the governor said the only new item would be the P20-million allocation for the implementation of the multi-faceted Malapascua Island Eco-Tourism Development Plan. - Cristina C. Birondo