Iloilo province’s P3.7-B budget for 2019 hangs

The approval of the proposed P3.712-billion proposed 2019 budget for the province of Iloilo is facing uncertainty following the revamp in committee chairmanships at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP).

Board Member Dorothy Paes, who sits as the new chairperson of the Committee on Appropriations, said on Tuesday that they are yet to conduct deliberations on the proposed budget.

“We need time to scrutinize and check one by one and we cannot just immediately approve it because the risk is at our hands,” she said, adding that they might start the deliberations next week.

However, there are only two sessions left for the provincial board to approve the budget before the year ends.

Paes, president of the Liga ng mga Barangay in the province, replaced 5th district Board member Nielo Tupas last week as chair of the committee. During Tupas’s time, the proposed budget already underwent two deliberations.

“Let us see if we can make it because it will depend on our schedule. If we can tackle everything, then we can approve it,” she said.

Paes is also looking at the 4th tranche of the salary increase of the employees of the provincial government, which is still at stake with the budget still uncertain to be approved.

“We will really try to make it because that is already allocated by the governor (Arthur Defensor Sr.),” she said.

While Paes has yet to discuss the proposed budget with her vice chairpersons, fourth district board member Domingo Oso and first district board member Marcelo Valentin Serag, she initially wanted clarifications on the budget allotted to the Hospital Management Office (HMO) but she was not able to discuss the specifics.

Based on the copy of the proposed budget, bulk of the P3.712 billion is intended for the General Fund amounting to P2.747 billion, higher compared to the P2.615 billion general fund this year.

On the other hand, the proposed budget for the Local Economic Enterprise is P964.797 million, higher when compared with this year’s P851.420 million-budget.

SOURCE: Iloilo Metropolitan Times

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