BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance appropriating the amount of P500,000 from the local government’s general fund or from any available funds as the city’s counterpart to the P2.5 million downloaded by the Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR) to the city pursuant to a memorandum of agreement (MOA) entered into by both parties.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. stated that the City Treasurer upon the availability of the fund as certified by the city’s Local Finance Committee shall create a special account as trust fund for the said purpose and deposit the allocated fund to the said account as well as the downloaded funds.
Further, the ordinance stipulated that disbursements from the said account shall be pursuant to the usual accounting and auditing rules and procedures to ensure the transparency in the release of funds from the said account.
Earlier, the DA-CAR, the principal government agency tasked to develop the country’s agriculture and fishery sector, has partnered with the local government to strengthen development efforts towards the attainment of its mission, vision and goals.
ON the other hand, in close coordination with the DA-CAR, the local government was able to identify various programs, projects and activities towards aggressively promoting and further developing the agricultural and farming industry in the city.
In strengthening the established partnership and commitment, the DA-CAR and the local government entered into an agreement for the sustained implementation of development programs to attain food self-sufficiency and with the ultimate goal of transforming from food importer to exporter in the future.
Included in the memorandum of agreement is the funding support of the program in the amount of P3 million wherein P2.5 million will come from the DA-CAR while P500,000 will be sourced out from the local government and that the fund shall be deposited in a trust fund which shall be used solely for the purposes as stipulated in the previous agreement.
The P2.5 million fund from the agriculture department was already downloaded by the agency to the local government while the city is yet to allocate its prescribed counterpart for the realization of the goals of the program.
The programs, projects and activities for the promotion of agriculture in barangays with agricultural activities will be prepared by the local government in coordination with the DA-CAR to ensure the sustained practice of organic farming, urban gardening and other related activities.
The city’s plan for the promotion of backyard-based gardening that will showcase the production of edible plants was crafted during the previous conduct of a Farmer’s Congress which was participated in by numerous agriculture industry stakeholders from the different barangays of the city.
The proposed ordinance was referred to the Committee on Appropriations and Finance for further study and recommendation for the deliberation of the measure on second and third readings.
By Dexter A. See
