BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental approved a P348-million supplemental budget on Tuesday, April 25.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said majority of the fund would be for the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) for 2023.
This was in response to the 70 percent cut in the province’s 2023 annual budget.
The reduction of local governments’ National Tax Allotment (formerly known as Internal Revenue Allotment) was due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Aside from the MOOE, part of the supplemental budget would be used to purchase fuel, supplies, for travel allowances, funding for provincial government-run hospitals, and others.
Diaz said the budget would be taken from the more than P392 million surplus or savings of the province in 2022.
The remaining P43 million in the provincial government’s savings could be used for other projects, such as preparations to cushion the effects of the El Niño phenomenon./PN
