BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) is wrapping up the hearings on the proposed P5.7-billion provincial budget for 2022.
According to Negros Occidental’s Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, they are expected to approve the proposed budget on third and final reading by around the last week of November or the first week of December.
During the hearings, Ferrer noted several delays in Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson’s infrastructure projects, although he stated it was “expected” due to weather disturbances as well as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The proposed budget is 20 percent higher than the 2021 budget of P4.4 billion due to the increase in the province’s National Tax Allocation (NTA) – thanks to the Supreme Court’s Mandanas-Garcia ruling that the just tax share of local government units (LGUs) must be computed based on all national taxes and not just from the National Internal Revenue Taxes (NIRT). This includes taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs and other agencies authorized by law to collect NIRT.
A big chunk of the proposed P5,719,337,346 budget for 2022 will go to the Special Purpose Appropriations (SPA) pegged at P2,142,140,592 or 37.45 percent.
For maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), a total of P1,812,481,024 or 31.69 percent is being proposed, personal services at P1,752,715,730 or 30.65 percent and capital outlay at P12,000,000 or 0.21 percent.
Under personal services, a total of P1,143,071,636 or 65.22 percent is set for the social services sector, P344,765,598 or 19.67 percent for the general public services sector and P264,878,496 or 15.11 percent for the economic services sector.
Meanwhile, a total of P183,846,174.37 is being proposed for the Economic Enterprise Development Department./PN
