Negros Or. LGU will stop relying on national funds

DUMAGUETE CITY , Philippines— Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo has announced that the provincial government will no longer rely on national government funds for the implementation of various programs and projects at the local level.

Degamo issued this statement after the provincial government suffered severely from at least four withdrawals of national funding for provincial projects in the past several months without any explanation.

The governor repeatedly said he believed the withdrawal of these funds was politically colored simply because he was never an ally of the Aquino administration.

The withdrawal of the funds has direly affected the lives of Negros Oriental constituents, lamented Degamo although he vowed to pursue the programs and projects without support from the national government.

Among the funds that the national government agencies had withdrawn-after earlier commitments-were: 1) the P481-million disaster fund, half of the total amount of which President Benigno Simeon Aquino III had promised to Negros Oriental following the Magnitude 6.9 earthquake that rocked the province in 2012;

2) the P100-million allocation from the Department of Health for the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital; 3) the P16-million for the Guihulngan District Hospital in Guihulngan City; and 4) a multi-million agriculture project.

Degamo said the sadder part about these fund withdrawals is that the national government agencies involved in the release of the money have not offered an explanation at all.

The governor said he is taking this as a challenge instead to continue with his administration's thrust of serving the people of Negros Oriental and bringing to them the basic services as well as development projects, even without funds from the national government. — (FREEMAN)