THE Aquino administration has earmarked P1.83 billion to Central Visayas, with Cebu getting the lion's share, under its Bottom-Up Budgeting (BuB) scheme.
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio Abad said the fund would be used for the implementation of the local government units' (LGUs) projects.
He said that Cebu City will benefit from a rapid community-based monitoring system (CBMS), a big-ticket BuB project amounting to P19.2 million. The CBMS is an organized process of data-collection and -processing at the local level, with the data to be integrated in local planning, program implementation, and impact monitoring.
“Projects like this will help LGUs make informed decisions and draft policies on the programs they need. This is an important element in the government’s push for meaningful devolution, and will also help empower communities who participate in this process,” Abad said.
Of the P1.83 billion allotted to Region VII for the 844 projects in the 2016 national budget, Cebu will get P1.0 billion for 426 projects. Since 2013, Central Visayas has received a total of P5.29 billion in BuB funds for 3,396 projects with Cebu getting P3.05 billion for 1,827 projects. Central Visayas is composed of three provinces: Cebu, Bohol, and Siquijor. The province of Cebu has three highly urbanized cities: Cebu City, Mandaue City, and Lapu-Lapu City.
Though Cebu received majority of the BuB funds for this year, Bohol received four out of the five big-ticket projects, which include road construction projects, a potable water supply system, and an evacuation center. These were in the Bohol municipalities of Anda, Loboc, Pilar, and Sierra Bullones.
“This program is completely new to many local government units and is the first initiative in the world of this magnitude. Many of the LGUs involved in the program are experiencing it for the first time. While the processes we're introducing are taking some time to take root, we're confident they'll make a difference at the grassroots level,” Abad said.
"The fact that these LGUs are going through the process—in close collaboration with civil society organizations and the communities they represent—is already a huge gain. If we’re serious about the pursuit of empowerment and genuine autonomy of these local governments, we need to give them the time they need,” the budget chief added.
BuB, the government’s participatory budgeting program, provides P20 million funding for a priority poverty reduction program proposed by a city or municipality. At least 1,590 local government units (LGUs) have participated in the program since 2013 and a total of 42,180 projects have been funded, of which 16,576 have been completed as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2015. For this year, 14,325 BuB projects have been allocated P24.7 billion in the national budget.
Abad said the BuB program—which covers local governments only down to the municipal-level—will soon be expanded to include barangays nationwide by next year.
Dubbed Barangay BuB, the program will provide a subsidy of P1 million to each barangay and will aid barangays in better formulating poverty reduction action plans and monitoring the delivery of basic services in the communities.
Preparatory activities for the expansion have already begun and will last until the end of the year. The pilot implementation will happen in 2017, when the first 14,000 barangays will receive funding from the national government. Full implementation will start from 2018 to 2019. Each year, 14,000 barangays will be receive funding until all 42,036 barangays are covered by the program, DBM said. (SDR/Sunnex)