PB to tackle P4.6B annual budget today

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu Provincial Board is set to discuss the report of the Committee on Budget and Appropriations on the proposed P4.6-billion budget for 2019 today.

The proposed budget is 4.23 percent higher than this year's budget of P4.5 billion.

After two week of budget hearing, it will be known today whether the budget needs further modification or be calendared for the next regular session.

Provincial Budget Officer Danilo Rodas has discussed during the hearing that the increase is primarily due to salary increase as the government implements the fourth tranche of the salary standardization.

The budget has an increase of P190.69 million. Of this amount, P136 million is for salary of Capitol employees.

Rodas said that this can also be attributed to the additional employees, especially in the two newly formed offices namely the Provincial Tourism Office (PTO) and Cebu Provincial Investment and Promotions Office (CPIPO).

The proposal was drafted for at least two months.

"Ni-increase ang atong proposed budget run pero gamay ra," he said.

He remarked that it is a normal trend for the budget to continuously increase every year.

The same as last year, the biggest bulk goes to the health programs of the Capitol with a total allocation of P1.48 billion.

Of this amount, P1.2 billion is for the improvement of 16 district and provincial hospitals. The remaining P254 million is for public health programs.

Another office with a big allocation is the governor's office with a proposed budget of P807 million which is higher than this year's P735 million.

Provincial Engineering Office (PEO) proposed a P400 million budget. Its projects for next year include creating more road network projects.

If the proposed budget will be approved, the money will be sourced from the Capitol's income sources. This is composed of 80% Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and 20% revenues from local taxes according to Rodas.

This year, the provincial government has an IRA of P3.121 billion this 2018. Rodas said he is anticipating an IRA of P3.432 billion in 2019.

Looking back, the committee recommended the 2018 budget for approval without modification. (FREEMAN)