Thursday, November 30, 2006 Gov't to allot more funds for agriculture, social programs
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered government agencies to spend more funds for agriculture and social services in order to expand her government's targets for poverty alleviation.
Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said Arroyo allocated P1 billion a month for irrigation projects and farm-to-market roads in the North Luzon and Mindanao super regions to boost food production.
Defensor said the backyard vegetable farms will also be expanded well above the current 17,000 target.
He said Arroyo has raised the target for microfinance borrowers since the two million target for 2004 to 2010 had been exceeded. The current goal is three million.
Defensor also said the target outlets of low-cost medicine would be raised from 14,000 to 30,000.
Meanwhile, Defensor said the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) would also set a target higher that the original 80,000 for scholarships.
Defensor said the President has also ordered the health, education, social welfare departments and the Tesda to accelerate the use of their budgets for socio-economic programs.
He said the agencies have slowed down the use of their budget to less than 30 percent. (JMR/Sunnex)
