Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer is aiming for the Sangguniang Panlalawigan’s passage of the P5.7 billion Negros Occidental budget for 2022 on third and final reading by next week.
He said the SP Committee on Finance has been deliberating on the budget for two weeks already.
The budget can be passed by next week if no additional proposals or questions are raised, he said.
During the budget deliberations the delay in the implementation of some projects was noted, he said. However, we are in a pandemic and some projects are also hampered by bad weather, he added.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, on submitting the P5.7 billion proposed budget to the SP in October, said while there is a dramatic increase in the province’s share of the National Tax Allotment, formerly the Internal Revenue Allotment, caused by the Supreme Court ruling on the Mandanas-Garcia case, it is still an uphill climb with the continuing battle against COVID-19.
The health crisis has shifted priorities and spending policies, he said.
The P5,719,337,346 budget will be sourced from local revenues totaling P329,000,000 and the National Tax Allotment of P5,390,337,346.*