The annual “Lights of Bago” celebration to usher in the New Year has been cancelled as part of the cost cutting measures of Bago City that will face a National Tax Allotment cut in 2023, Mayor Nicholas Yulo said Tuesday, November 29.
It will be the second year that the spectacular New Year fireworks show in Bago City will have been cancelled since the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the NTA cut in the 2023 share of Bago City is about P250 million.
The performance of city employees will not be affected by the cut, but there will be certain projects that they will not be able to implement, Yulo said.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod has approved an about P1.2 billion budget for the Bago City government in 2023, he added.
Yulo said the amount of the yearend bonus for the 850 Bago City employees has not been determined yet.
“It is too soon for us to determine how much we are going to give…the source of our bonuses is our savings,” he said.
The savings are computed in the first week of December, he said.
“If we have savings we will really give extra bonuses to our employees, especially this year because Bago City has received a lot of awards,” he said.*