During the recently held Regional Budget Consultation conducted by the Regional Budget Review Committee (RBRC), the proposed budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) RO2 for 2017 emerged as the highest among the 18 Regional Line Agencies (RLAs) that presented their budgets.

DepEd’s budget proposal of Php 44.9 Billion covers about a third (at 38.47%) of the grand total amount of the budget proposals of the 18 RLAs at Php 73.1 Billion.

A large chunk of DepEd’s budget, around 75% or Php 33.5 Billion, is allotted for payment for personnel services, i.e. the salaries of public school teachers and officials as well as employees of the schools division offices and the DepEd regional office.

“DepEd has also allotted about Php 8.8 Billion for capital outlay projects.” said OIC-Assistant Regional Director Benjamin D. Paragas during the budget consultation held on March 8-9, 2016 at the NEDA-RDC2 Bldg.

Meanwhile, from the grand total amount of Php 2.8 Billion for the budget proposals of the five state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the region, Isabela State University had the highest budget proposal at Php 905 Million. Batanes State College proposed the lowest budget at Php 153 Million.

Complementation of national and local initiatives

RBRC Chair and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Regional Director Isabel C. Taguinod said during the consultation that the proposed budgets of the RLAs were assessed to help ensure the complementation of their programs and projects with local or provincial priorities.

“The actual performance of the RLAs and the SUCs for 2015 and their targets for 2016 were assessed vis-à-vis their 2017 budget proposals to avoid fluctuating targets,” Dir. Taguinod said.

The deliberation panel was comprised of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA).

They were joined by selected representatives from the private sector and the provincial LGUs.

More infrastructure and BUB projects

Following DepEd with the highest budget proposal was the DPWH with Php 12.6 Billion which goes to infrastructure development.

The same is true for the FY 2017 budget proposal of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in the amount of Php 2.9 Billion which will be used for the construction of more infrastructure projects like irrigation canals.

For projects under the Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) process, the DILG RO2 had the largest amount under capital outlay at Php 1.1 Billion. This is mainly due to its role as the lead implementing agency for BUB.

Other RLAs also allotted certain budgets for BUB projects such as the DA (Php 272M), Department of Social Welfare and Development (Php 130M), and the Environmental Management Bureau (Php 89M).

RDC 2 support

Subsequently, these budget proposals were endorsed by the RDC 2 during its joint meeting with the Regional Peace and Order Council 2 on March 16, 2016.

As a next step following the RDC2 endorsement, the regional agencies will be reporting their budget proposals to their Agency Central Offices (ACOs) for feedback or needed adjustments in the regional distribution of the PPAs. The SUCs shall be forwarding the same to the CHED.

As a supplement to the endorsement, the RDC2 and the RPOC2 also jointly expressed their support to the resolution passed by RDC 4-B requesting all Cabinet Secretaries to adopt the proposed projects and budgets endorsed by the RDCs.

In her presentation during the joint meeting of the RDC2 and RPOC2, Philippine Information Agency Regional Director Purita S. Licas said that “ACOs should also certify the acceptance and non-acceptance of the RDC recommendation and state the reason in the event of non-acceptance as feedback mechanism.”

Dir. Licas sits as Co-Chair of the Committee on Development Administration and Communication (CODAC) which endorsed the RDC 4-B resolution. #