Governor Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr. 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 on first reading.

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;  and about 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 Development Bank for a total of P63 million.

If computed by sectoral allocation, namely the general public services, economic, and social services, the breakdown is as follows: General public services (P283.50 million): personal services (P136.15 million), MOOE (P40.05 million), financial expenses (P100, 000), and non-office projects (P107.20 million), Economic Services (P113.49 million): personal services (P44.25 million), MOOE (P1.64 million), and non-office projects (P67 million), Social Services (P218.99 million):, personal services (P48.82 million), MOOE (P95.20 million), and non-office projects (P76.97 million). 

The local finance committee, composed of the provincial budget officer, planning and development coordinator, accountant treasurer and the governor signified that the budget would be sourced from real property tax collections projected at P30.7 million; other local taxes at P4.8 million; utilization of national wealth P4 million, operating and miscellaneous revenue, P10 million, and in bulk from

Bukidnon's internal revenue allotment (IRA) projected at P1.01 billion.    

Among the biggest projected expenditures for general public services are payments for the Provincial Governor's Office (Management and Staff) at P24.48 million, the PGO PDRC (Provincial Jail) at P18.32 million and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan at P18.53 million.  

For economic services, the bigger proposed allotments go to the Provincial Engineer's Office at P20.84 million and the Provincial Agriculture Office at P12.23 million.

At least 77 percent of the budget for social services or P109.52 million of the P142.02 million, is proposed for the Provincial Indigents Health Program. The Capitol is allotting P4.08 million for the Provincial Veterinary Office while it plans to spend P1.33 million for the Provincial Nutrition Program.  

The budget also includes at least P6.62 million for the "PGO – Population Development Program".
Among proposed allocations in the non-office/projects for general services include the P30 million for special allocation of the provincial board, P25 million for "Peace and Order Program and Support Services" and the P8 million for "Security Services".  

For economic enterprise non-office and projects, 80 percent or P54 million of the P67.6 million goes to maintenance of roads and bridges while a proposed allotment of P4 million is eyed for Tourism Program and support services. The proposed budget also includes P1 million for the "rehabilitation of tomato paste factory".  

Social service projects include a budget for P3.4 million for Integrated Social Forestry Program, P5 million for Provincial Scholarship Program, and a "Special Project for Indigenous People" pegged at P300,000.  

The provincial government proposed to spend half of its budget for social service projects or about P38 million out of P76.9 million for honorarium of barangay health workers, day care workers, and other village level workers.  

The province, however, plans to spend more for a contest, Gawad Pangulo sa Kapaligiran at P1.5 million than for monitoring for environmental protection which has an allocation of only P500,000. 

Projects for social services also would get a smaller slice of pie, at P76.97 million out of the budget for non-office/projects, compared to that of general services at P107 million. 

Aside from the general fund, the provincial government's annual budget is augmented by the passing of supplemental budget ordinances. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)

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