Capitol to take up budget with DILG, DBM

GOVERNOR Alfredo Marañon Jr. said Thursday that he will bring up with the Budget and Local Government departments the Provincial Board's (PB) disapproval of his proposed 2013 provincial budget.

Marañon said such disapproval of the budget by the PB is the first time in the history of Negros.

He said they will consult with the Deparment of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) what will happen if he vetoes the PB's move.

Aside from bringing up the matter with DILG and DBM, Marañon said that legal implications are also being studied by the legal minds.

"I appeal to the members of the SP (PB) who voted for the disapproval of the budget to reconsider their decisions," Marañon said, reiterating that the poor people of Negros will be affected by the move, because hospital operations will surely be affected as hundreds of contractual employees cannot be rehired with the re-enacted budget.

Most of the contractual employees are assigned to the hospitals run by the local government units.

Marañon also clarified that the salaries of the regular and co- terminus employees will not be affected by the disapproval of the budget. However, the salary increase that they also badly need will be affected, including their additional bonus of P20,000 each.

Asked for his comment, Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez said the PB welcomes the move of the executive to bring up the matter with the DBM and the DILG.

He assured that the employees' salary increase and bonus will be released to them.

Provincial Budget Officer Percival Salado, for his part, said the employees additional bonus can be sourced out from the Provincial Government's savings for 2012, which can be determined this week, but it cannot be released to them because it has to be allocated through a Supplemental Budget that can be approved and taken up only by the PB if they have already approved the 2013 budget.

"Any supplemental budget cannot be approved without first the approval of the 2013 budget," Salado clarified. (TDE)