BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan wants the city council to approve the 2016 P1.56 billion city budget before the end of this year to avoid untoward delays in the implementation of priority development projects to help boost the competitiveness of the city.
The local chief executive pointed out the executive branch already submitted the detailed budget next year to the council on October 16, 2015 pursuant to the deadline prescribed under the Local Government code of the Philippines for a local chief executive to submit the proposed annual budget to the local legislative body for the conduct of deliberations and subsequent approval.
“One of the major reasons for the city’s quite low rating in terms of infrastructure under the regional and national competitiveness ratings is the delayed implementation of the priority projects detailed in the approved budget of the city over the past several years. We do not such avoidable circumstances to happen in our future evaluation and assessment that is why we want the council to immediately act on the city’s proposed budget the soonest,” Domogan stressed.
He explained the delayed approval of the city’s budget translates to the delayed confirmation of the budget by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the subsequent delays in the bidding and implementation of the detailed projects just as what had been happening over the previous years when the city’s budgets were approved February or March of the following year.
According to him, once the city’s budget will be approved by the end of this year, it could be immediately transmitted to the DB regional office for review and by February or March, the bidding of projects could already be scheduled and subsequently implemented in time for the summer season where major infrastructure projects would be best implemented.
He said that as much as possible, the city government should avoid a carryover in the implementation of projects to the following year because of the delayed approval of the city budget but instead try to pass the budget on time and work out the speedy implementation of development projects for the benefit of the general welfare of the populace.
Domogan said individual councillors should already consolidate their questions over the items on the city budget so that the concerned departments will be able to address such queries and if there are no controversial issues that will arise, it is best for the local legislative body to approve the same so that the concerned office could already transmit the same to the DBM regional office for immediate review.
Aside from infrastructure, the competitiveness of local governments are also being gauged in terms of economic dynamism and government efficiency pursuant to the crafted guidelines in assessing and evaluating the competitiveness of cities, municipalities and provinces in the whole country.
By Dexter A. See
