P3.09B BUDGET FOR PROVINCE 10/19/2010
Social services get 50 percent; No pork for Sanchez, PB
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia submitted a proposed annual budget of P3.09 billion for 2011.
It is the biggest in the province's history with half of the funds allocated to social services.
But Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez isn’t happy.
The allocation for his office was slashed from P45.56 million to P18.14 million, which he said was proof of the governor’s continued “harassment”.
The pork barrel for Sanchez and members of the Provincial Board members was removed from the vice governor’s office.
Instead, the allocation is placed in the budget of the Office of the Governor.
Governor Garcia said her proposed budget, which needs PB approval, made good her promise to focus on on the delivery of social services during his last three-year term.
Social services will receive P1.54 billion or 50 percent of the entire annual budget of P3.09 billion.
“This annual budget is on track with the most recent developments affecting local fiscal administration and adopts new concepts of local governance, which are directly related to budget administration,” said Garcia in her budget message.
She said that for five years, Cebu province's budget had been over P2 billion. This year, she wants it increased to P3.09 billion.
The increase, she said, showed “the province's relative autonomy” from the Internal Revenue Allotment, which contributed 51 percent of the required funding sources, “which showed an affirmative mark in this era of increasing IRA-dependency on the part of local government units.”
But for Vice Governor Sanchez, the proposed budget would leave him “immobile” because he could no longer pursue programs on his own.
Key items removed from Sanchez' office included the salaries of his casual employees amounting to P6.2 million, P3.02 million in consultancy services, office building capital outlay of P2.5 million, P4.5 million in legislative research and codification project and P11.5 million for the Legislative Assistance Fund or the pork barrel of PB members.
In contrast, the budget for the Office of the Governor will shoot up from P485.43 million this year to P688.63 million next year.
This includes the pork barrel funds of all the Provincial Board Members and that of Sanchez. Some P100 million was added to the Governor's Office as Provincial Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
While all other offices in the executive department will have about the same outlay, the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) and the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) will receive at least a 20 percent increase in their budgets.
For 2011, the PSWDO will receive P108.97 million or P33.08 million more from current levels.
The outlay for the social services office covers financial assistance for individuals in crisis situations, program for women and children, program for disabled and the elderly, out-of-school youth programs, Grameen for Women and other sectors empowerment now (GWEN) totaling about P104 million.
The IPHO budget will go up from P182.05 million this year to P232.18 million in 2011.
A significant increase was noted in items intended for the purchase of medical, dental, laboratory and hospital supplies, which will be pegged at P45 million from only P23 million this year.
Aside from that, the IPHO will also have a bigger outlay for professional services in the hospitals—from P41 million in 2010 to P57 million in 2011.
The budget for the Philippine Health Insurance indigency program of the Capitol will also increase from P40 million to P44 million next year. The nutrition program will go up from P3.5 million to P5 million.
Allocations for the insurance program of barangay health workers will also increase to P3 million next year from P2 million this year.
Governor Garcia said that her budget for 2011 delivers her promise to spend more for social services .
She said the budget for Personnel Services (PS) was only 37 percent of the entire proposed budget or way below the 45 percent mandatory ceiling.
The provincial government is promoting outsourced services in the hospitals and other offices.
Garcia attributed the lower PS expenses to “augmentation of our personnel through outsourcing of certain basic services as it has proven, fiscally and operationally, to be effective and efficient.”
Outsourcing is used for health, security, janitorial and clerical and mechanical services, among others, she said.
“The delivery of more excellent services at less cost should be the guiding principle in governance where government is run as an enterprise,” Garcia said.
(The outsourcing program has been criticized by Vice Governor Sanchez who cited the manpower services firm owned by the family of businessman Glenn Soco, running mate of Garcia in the 2010 elections.)
The proposed budget also spends more for development projects, which are mandated to constitute at least 20 percent of annual budgets in all local government units taken from the IRA allocations.
In Cebu, she said expenses for development programs reaches 37 percent or higher than the minimum requirement.
“This budget espouses the judicious application of resources, bearing the principle in governance that a budget must be—beyond theoretical presentation—an approximation of the people's hopes and aspirations,” she said.
“It reflects the new age of politics, new age of governance that we believe has dawned upon this great, indivisible and solid One Cebu Province.”
Cebu Daily News | Cebu's Only Independent Newspaper
What do you think guyz
, iyaha lang diay tanan
unsaon nalang ang mga functions sa PB. maypag nagbotar nalang tag Governador, wa nalay Vice og Board Members!
Budget cuts ni Gwen
Originally Posted by marius
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