PB okays slashed budget

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Provincial Board yesterday passed the reduced budget for the province for 2013.

The P3.26 billion budget is 11 percent lower than the P3.6 billion appropriation submitted by suspended Governor Gwendolyn Garcia last year.

PB committee on budget and appropriations chair Board Member Peter John Calderon recommended for the approval of the slashed budget.

The approved amount was also 11 percent lower than last year’s budget.

During the deliberations, Board Member Cesar Ian Geronimo Zambo suggested that the P5 million Legislative Assistance Fund of each of the 15 board members be reduced to P4 million since the appropriations for other offices were also reduced.

Budgets for the offices of the governor and vice governor were also slashed.

After the board agreed to Zambo’s suggestion, it then moved for the approval of the P3.26 billion budget.

Under this year’s budget, the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) for all offices have been reduced by 25 percent, except for those of the Cebu South Bus Terminal and the Provincial Health Office, which were reduced by 20 percent.

The P55.3 million proposed appropriation for the Public Information Office was reduced to P23.3 million.

But there was no reduction in the budget for the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center.

There was also a 25 percent reduction in capital outlay of all offices. The CSBT and the PHO also suffered a 20 percent reduction and 10 percent reduction respectively.

There were no reductions in the appropriations for the district hospitals.

The non-office expenditures for the Office of the Governor, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office and PHO were also reduced.

The P710 million budget for the Office of the Governor was reduced to P599.5 million while the P62 million for the Office of the Vice Governor was slashed to P59.3 million

The P12 million budget for the office of each board member was supposed to be reduced to P10.5 million.

But because of another P1 million reduction of their LAF, each board member will only have P9.5 million.

There was also reduction in the development projects and activities from P520 million to P362 million.

“This reduction is recommended mainly because the committee is of the opinion that it will be difficult for the provincial government to raise the revenues that will support the proposed budget that was submitted by the Office of the Governor last October,” Calderon said.

Calderon said that it has become imperative for them to reduce the budget to a “manageable level.”

He pointed out that the budget documents also show that there is appropriation for vacant positions.

The budget provides for the appropriation for vacant regular positions, which amounted to P316 million.

Calderon said that if these positions are not filled, the province’s budget that was supposed to be approved based on the committee recommendation would only be P2.95 billion.

“In effect the appropriation for these funded but vacant positions will be our buffer in case we will not be able to raise the revenue that is expected to support this budget,” Calderon said.

Part of the expected revenues will be the proceeds from the 93-1 lots amounting to around P500 million, Calderon said.

He said that during the budget hearing, they found discrepancies in the expected revenues as certified by Local Finance Committee when the Office of the Provincial Assessor reported that the maximum real property taxes that the province can collect is only from P70 million to P80 million.

The budget was approved by the board in mass motion. —/LPM  (FREEMAN)