BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) of Negros Occidental is eyeing the approval of the proposed P5.7-billion 2022 budget on the second week of November.
Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer said the proposal is already with the Committee on Budget and Finance. It was submitted by the Office of the Governor last week.
Budget hearings are expected to start this week.
Citing the coronavirus pandemic, Ferrer said only major departments will be called to the hearings.
The proposed budget is 20 percent higher than the 2021 budget of P4.4 billion, according to Ferrer.
The increase in the National Tax Allocation (NTA) was due to the Supreme Court’s Mandanas-Garcia ruling that the just tax share of local government units (LGUs) – the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) – 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 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
