Bukidnon board approves P1.06-B budget for 2009

The Bukidnon Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) approved on November 5 the P1.06 billion budget proposed by Gov. Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr.

The proposed budget passed the board's scrutiny without cuts.

But Zubiri requested an amendment in a letter to the board on November 17 asking that P19.51million of the budget for the Provincial Indigency Health Project be used as partial for the construction of the Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (provincial jail).

Zubiri endorsed to the provincial board the proposed executive budget of the general fund for 2009 on October 3. The proposal has been referred to the appropriations committee.

The budget covers statutory and mandatory obligations (P319.02 million), general public services (P283.50 million), economic services (P113.50), social services (P218.99 million), and subsidy to economic enterprise (P125 million).

By expenditure type, more than a fourth of the budget, P287.2 million or 27 percent goes to personal services; another fourth to mandatory obligations such as calamity and development funds, P256 million or 24.15 percent; almost a fifth goes to non-office expenses or for projects, P191.77 million or 18.09 percent; about 13 percent goes to maintenance and operating expenses (MOOE) at P136.89 million; andabout 12 percent for subsidy to the province's economic enterprise,P125 million, or 11.79 percent.

The province also plans to spend about 6 percent of the 2009 budget to pay for loans, estimated at P63 million or 5.94 percent.

The breakdown for statutory and mandatory obligations include economic services (P256, 018,000) and general public services to be spent on loan amortization (P63 million).

Under economic services are barangay development fund (P928, 000), 5 percent reserve for calamity fund (P53 million), and development fund(P202.09 million).

For the statutory obligations under general public services the provincial government is earmarking P56 million for loans with the Land Bank of the Philippines and P7 million for the Asian DevelopmentBank for a total of P63 million.

For full report read here.