BANGUED, Abra – The provincial board passed upon the Annual Investment Plans (AIPs) of twelve municipalities in the province paving the way for the passage of their respective municipal budgets for this year.
The municipalities with approved AIPs include La Paz, Luba, Manabo, Pidigan, Tubo, Villaviciosa, Bangued, Daguioman, Pilar, San Quintin, Tineg and San Juan
The approval of the AIPs of the said municipalities will allow the concerned municipal councils to pass their 2016 annual budget for it to be operational the soonest.
Under the provisions of the Local government code, the concerned municipal or city councils and provincial boards must first approve the AIPs of the concerned local governments prior to the approval of their annual budgets. The AIP shall contain the details of the projects that will be funded under the 20 percent local development fund and the list of the projects passed upon by the different local development councils for funding from other sources of fund by the concerned local government.
Further, the Local government code also mandates local governments to pass their budgets for the coming year by December of the preceding year. If the budget is not passed on time, local governments are given at least 90 days to approve the budget or else the concerned local governments will operate on a re-enacted budget. .
The provincial board called on the different municipalities to submit their respective AIPs for approval so that the local legislative body could act on their proposed budgets for the current year so as not to delay the implementation of their priority projects and the delivery of basic services to the people.
Abra is composed of 27 towns with 16 municipalities belonging to the lowland communities while 11 towns are considered as upland municipalities.
The provincial board is empowered by the Local government Code to pass upon the ordinances, AIPs and budgets that are approved by the different municipalities to make sure that such laws, rules and regulations conform with existing legislations.
Local legislators are optimistic that all the municipalities in the province will be able to pass their respective annual investment plans and executive budgets before the end of this month so that the provincial board can also exercise its review powers and approved the same before the start of the 45-day campaign period for local elective officials so that there will be no untoward interruption in the implementation of projects and delivery of services to the people.
By Dexter A. See
