Isabela Mayor Irene Montilla expressed her frustration today, January 28, as members of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) have yet to act on the proposed P216 million annual budget of their town for 2021.
The mayor said the proposed budget was submitted to the SB in October last year, but members of the council only started holding their marathon hearings just this January.
She said that the municipal government is now operating on a reenacted budget, but the 2021 proposed allocation is coronavirus responsive.
The municipal government cannot implement new projects and programs under the reenacted budget considering that the proposals have to be included in the 2020 Annual Investment Plan, she said.
With the non-action of the SB members on the annual budget, the council cannot tackle other items until the 2021 allocation is approved, the mayor said, adding other matters are pending right now at the Sanggunian.
She said she is frustrated with the “obstructive partisanship.”
Under the proposed municipal budget, P80 million was allocated for personnel services, P68 million for maintenance and other operating expenses, while P39 million was set for the 20 percent development fund and P11 million for the 5 percent local disaster risk reduction management fund.
In Montilla’s budget message, she said that 2021 is crucial because it marks the start of the new normal, “the time when we balance the war against the pandemic, ensuring the health and safety of the people without neglecting the economy and the repercussions that health protocols wreak to our way of life. It is the time to ensure that our interventions go beyond relief measures and contribute to economic recovery and growth.”*