Thursday, October 02, 2008 RDC body pushes for retention of priority projects
THE Advisory Committee (AdCom) of the Regional Development Council (RDC) in Southern Mindanao is pushing for the retention of the Davao Region's priority programs and projects that were excluded in the 2009 National Executive Budget.
RDC Vice Chair Nicasio Angelo Agustin, who is also the director of the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) in the region, said the AdCom has already passed a resolution to the region's congressmen requesting them to lobby for the inclusion of these priority projects for funding starting in 2009.
The Adcom, Agustin said, is composed of RDC officials, provincial governors, and selected city mayors and the congressmen of the Davao Region.
"A number of the region's proposed priority projects were not included by the national government agency central offices in their proposals for 2009 National Expenditure Program (NEP), now being deliberated by Congress," Agustin said.
He added that the projects not included were the road and flood control projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), forest and management programs of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), infrastructure training, research and development and new curriculum projects of State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), and hospital infrastructure and equipment projects of the Department of Health (DOH).
"It was argued by the National Government that the proposals of SUCs and UP Mindanao were scrapped because these institutions are allowed by law to utilize their income from operations for their priority projects," he said.
The expected income of these institutions, he said, could not fully finance their proposals, thus the need for additional budgetary allocation from the national government.
Agustin added that the proposed budget for programs and projects were mostly above the ceiling proposals of regional line agencies and SUCs, but were considered by RDC 11 as critical for the region's needs.
"This issue on the slashing of budgets will be raised by RDC and the Regional Development Committee (RDCom) chair for Mindanao Vicente Lao during the upcoming Neda Board-RDCom meeting on October 8," Agustin said.
He said the passing of a resolution to the region's congressmen is part of RDC's efforts in pushing for sufficient share in the national budget for the region's priority programs to ensure that necessary services are delivered to the people. (JGRS)
