55 towns, cities included in 600 focus areas for budgeting

Monday, February 13, 2012

AT LEAST 55 poor cities and municipalities in Eastern Visayas were included in the 600 focus areas in the implementation of bottom-up budgeting, an approach that will incorporate in budgets of key departments the priority requirements of poor local government units (LGUs).

In a listing released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) this week, 22 of these focus areas are in Samar, 15 in Leyte, 12 in Northern Samar, and six in Eastern Samar.

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DBM Regional Director Imelda Laceras said these poor towns and cities were identified by the Cabinet’s Human Development and Poverty Reduction (HDPR) cluster.

“Identified LGUs should be able to identify poverty reduction program and projects that they cannot fund at the local level. The National Government should be able to extend a lending hand by way of seeing to it that the priority programs of these pilot LGUs will find its way to the budget of concerned agencies,” Laceras explained.

The list of municipalities was selected based on factors including the magnitude of the poor in the municipalities, number of population minus number of poor, amount needed to be mobilized every year to eradicate poverty in the area, and the density of the poor by province.

Other factors considered are areas enrolled in the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) and Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay expansion areas and the conflict-affected municipalities listed in the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

In Samar, these LGUs are Basey, Calbayog City, Calbiga, Catbalogan City, Daram, Gandara, Hinabangan, Jiabong, Marabut, Matuguinao, Motiong, Paranas, Pinabacdao, San Jorge, San Jose de Buan, Sta. Margarita, Sta. Rita, Sto. Nino, Tagapul-an, Tarangnan, Villareal, and Zumarraga.

Eastern areas included are Arteche, Dolores, General Macarthur, Llorente, Oras, and Quinapondan.

In Leyte, these towns are Abuyog, Alang-alang, Albuera, Babatngon, Barugo, Burauen, Calubian, Carigara, Dagami, Dulag, Hilongos, Jaro, Matalom, Tanauan, and Villaba.

Identified Northern Samar municipalities are Bobon, Catarman, Catubig, Gamay, Las Navas, Lavezares, Lope de Vega, Mapanas, San Isidro, San Jose, San Roque, and Silvino Lobos.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said in his recent visit in Tacloban City that the National Government will be providing next year an additional budget of P8 million to P12 million to each identified poor area in the country under the new approach.

The financial assistance that will be channeled through concerned National Government agencies is at least up by 20 percent than the annual allocation that these poor municipalities have been receiving in the past years. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)