GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 14 July) – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has facilitated the release of around P1.249 billion in support grants to local government units (LGUs) in Region 12 in the last five years.
Reynaldo Bungubung, DILG Region 12 director, said Thursday the grants were released through various support programs and projects implemented by the agency in parts of the region from 2011 to 2015.
He said these include the Bottom-up Budgeting (BuB) program, Payapa at Ligtas na Pamayanan (PAMANA), Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig para sa Lahat (Salintubig) and the Performance Challenge Fund (PCF).
The funds were mainly utilized for various community projects that were implemented in coordination with the LGU-recipients, he said.
Of the released grants, Bungubung said a total of P701.98 million or 56 percent has already been liquidated by the recipients.
He said that the remaining P546.528 million or 44 percent that have yet to be liquidated include newly-completed, ongoing, and pipeline projects.
“We’re constantly coordinating with the LGUs for the submission of the COA (Commission on Audit)-validated reports of disbursements to expedite the liquidation of the funds released to them,” he said in a statement.
Bungubung said the agency has adopted various measures to ensure that the projects are implemented based on the government’s transparency and accountability standards.
But he noted that LGUs have been “doing their best to safeguard the integrity and quality of their projects.”
Meantime, Bungubung said a total of 263 projects funded and administered by the agency in 2015 have been so far completed.
He said these represent 54 percent of the 489 projects implemented by the agency through LGUs in the region.
Of the 263 completed projects, 102 were under the BuB program, 49 under the PAMANA, 22 under Salintubig and 90 under the PCF.
Bungubung said they have been regularly monitoring the progress of the 226 remaining projects, which are in various stages of preparation and implementation.
He said 107 projects are undergoing implementation, 79 at the pipeline and 40 in the preparation stage of initial documents.
Nine projects were earlier cancelled because of merging and feasibility problems, he said.
