City council okays Ormoc’s Php 1.09-B budget

ORMOC CITY, Leyte, Jan. 2 (PNA) – This city will have a budget of PhP1.09 billion this year, following the approval of the 2016 budget ordinance of the city council.

The billion-peso budget for 2016 will come from the Internal Revenue Allotment (Php 806.2 million) and local sources (Php291.7 million).

Maintenance and other operating expenses get the biggest chunk of the budget (42 percent) followed by personnel services (34 percent), non-office expenditures (19.6 percent) and capital outlay (4.4 percent).

Ormoc’s budget for 2016 is anchored on the prioritized needs of the city as embodied in the Annual Investment Plan. It contains the identified programs, projects and activities in social services, health, education as well as business, tourism and infrastructure development.

The city council on Dec. 26, 2015 passed on third and final reading, an ordinance approving the city government’s 2016 budget.

This development is significant considering the measure was approved without undergoing revisions from the opposition-dominated city council.

It took more than two months and 10 meetings to scrutinize details of the budget and the Committee on Finance and Appropriation led by opposition Councilor Mario Rodriguez did not find any questionable or suspicious entry that may warrant any changes.

Lawyer Benjamin Pongos, another opposition councilor, commended the Executive Department for submitting a clean budget.

“I would like to take this occasion to congratulate the concerned officers for this budget because apparently this is a very good budget because there are no changes that have been made by this august body,” he said.

“Not a single peso has been omitted or added. After so many weeks of going through [it], the budget indeed deserves to be passed…and for that excellent work, we would like to…congratulate the budget officer of the city,” Pongos added, referring to Sabrina Duero.(PNA)
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