SABANGAN, Mountain Province – Former Mayor Jupiter Dominguez underscored that the annual investment plans of barangays, municipalities, cities and provinces must be respected by concerned government agencies in the provision of funds for high impact development projects that will be funded by their respective allocations from the annual budget of the national government.
He claimed that over the past several years, it seems that concerned government agencies have set aside the priorities of the barangays, municipalities and the province in the provision of funds for the development projects as most of those that had been implemented in the different areas have not been prioritized by the host local governments, which defeats the purpose of requiring the preparation of their respective annual investment plans.
Under the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of the Philippines, barangays, municipalities, cities and provinces are mandated to prepare their respective annual investment plans that will serve as the basis in the identification of priority high impact development projects that will be funded by the concerned local governments while the others will be submitted to concerned government agencies for them to select those that will be prioritized for funding based on the available budget allocation that will be provided by the budget department.
Dominguez, who is aspiring for the province’s congressional post in the upcoming May 9, 2022 synchronized national and local elections, pointed out that concerned government agencies should not disregard the annual investment plans in the identification of the priority projects that will be funded because the same passed through a rigid process of consultations with stakeholders where the needs of the people on the ground had been already prioritized and what the government should do is to provide funding to allow growth and development to be realized in the countryside and not only in urban areas so that people will not be completed to migrate to urban communities and contribute to their worsening congestion problems.
According to him, it is disheartening to know that the high impact development projects of local governments are still awaiting funding not only from the available funds of the same but also from concerned government agencies that have programs, projects and activities on the growth and development of rural areas so that there will be a balance in the development of urban centers and far flung communities.
Dominguez expressed hope that the same will be corrected in the next term of officials so that incoming local officials will be empowered to enhance their annual investment plans that will focus on the overall growth and development of their respective areas to be able to spur robust economic activities in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
The former 3-term mayor of the municipality asserted that local governments should be consulted by concerned government agencies in the identification of development projects in their areas that must be provided with funding support so that there will be alignment in charting the overall growth and development of urban and rural communities so that there will be no places that will be left behind which will pave the way for the balanced implementation of projects amidst the meager funds of both the national and local governments.
