The Sangguniang Panlungsod approved the proposed P3.250 billion budget of Bacolod City for 2022 on second reading during a special session Monday, November 1, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said.
The 2022 budget is expected to be approved on third and final reading at the SP’s regular session on Wednesday, November 3.
Familiaran said the members of the SP asked questions from resource persons during the special session, and a lot of focus has been placed on health services amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proposed P3.250 billion budget is 25 percent higher than this year’s budget of P2.6 billion, Councilor Cindy Rojas, SP Committee on Finance chair, said.
Large chunks of the budget have been allocated for general public services – P1.6 billion, education – P65 million, health services – P348 million, housing and communication development – P102 million, social services – P100 million, and economic services – P242 million, she said.
The budget is due to the increase to the National Tax Allotment (NTA), formerly the Internal Revenue Allotment, granted following the Supreme Court’s Mandanas ruling that raised local government shares of national taxes, she said.
The P2,156,905,199 or 66 percent of Bacolod’s 2022 budget will come from the NTA and P1,093,094,801 or 34 percent will come from local revenues.*