Guv submits proposed budget for Provincial Board approval

CEBU Gov. Gwen Garcia submitted past 11 a.m. yesterday the Province’s P3.674 billion executive budget for 2013, less than half a percent higher than this year’s P3.659 billion.

The Governor’s Office will get the biggest budget allocation and development projects at P710.047 million, which is 29 percent of the Province’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of P1.599 billion.

The Provincial Health Office got the second biggest allocation at P569.284 million.

The Vice Governor’s office will get P62 million.

Almost half of the total budget will go to social services, with general public and economic services sharing the other half.

The governor’s executive budget was submitted to the Provincial Board yesterday. The legislators will study the budget, and if approved, it will be signed by the governor as a budget ordinance.

“An allocation for development projects represents 29 percent of such regular IRA share, a substantial chunk over the minimum prescribed 20 percent requirement,” the governor’s budget message said.

Section 287 of the Local Government Code of the Philippines or Republic Act 7160 provides that “no less than 20 percent of its annual IRA must be set aside for development projects.”

Thrust

Department of Budget and Management records revealed that this year, Cebu gets a total of P1,599,765,164 IRA. Twenty percent of that is P319.953 million.

“Simultaneously continuing and maintaining my thrust of having a lean and efficient bureaucracy under a system that rewards performance and leaves no room for sloppy services, our personal services (PS) appropriation remains a low 22 percent, far below the prescribed 45 percent PS cap,” read the governor’s budget message.

Section 325 of the Local Government Code states that the total appropriations, whether annual or supplemental, for personal services of a local government unit for one fiscal year shall not exceed 45 percent of the total annual income from regular sources realized in the next preceding fiscal year.

“The budgeting operations as proposed for authorization and appropriation are prepared, reviewed, translated and approved into the Cebu Provincial Government’s specific sectoral service objectives as summarized,” the governor said in her budget message.

Half of the total budget, or 52 percent, is earmarked for social services, 26 percent for general public services, and the remaining 22 percent is for economic services.