Save 20% off! Join our newsletter and get 20% off right away!
President Benigno Simeon Aquino III

PH gov’t allot P20-billion for poverty alleviation programs

President Benigno Simeon Aquino III
President Benigno Simeon Aquino III

 

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas today called on people’s organizations in cities and municipalities all over the country to participate actively in the identification and monitoring of government projects that seek to alleviate poverty in their communities.

Roxas noted that the National Government has allocated a total of P20 billion this year to fund various poverty-alleviation projects that were identified by local government units in coordination with civil society organizations in their communities.

Roxas said the projects are being implemented under the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process (GPBP), a new initiative that encourages people’s participation not only in project identification but also in monitoring project implementation.

“Sa ilalim ng GPBP, gusto nating tiyakin na may partisipasyon ang ordinaryong mamamayan sa pagpili ng mga proyektong pakikinabangan ng kanilang komunidad,” Roxas said.

“Maliban sa pagpili ng mga proyekto, mahalagang mabantayan din ng mga mamamayan ang pagpapatupad ng mga proyekto para masiguro na wala itong bahid ng katiwalian,” he added.

For year 2014, the National Budget earmarked P20.03 billion for 19,533 projects identified through the GPBP in 1,226 local government units.

The bulk of the said P20-billion budget were sourced from Department of Agriculture (P9.286 billion); Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD); (P2.638 billion); DILG (P2.476 billion); Department of Education (P1.449 billion); and Department of Health (P1.355 billion).

Other implementing agencies include Department of Agrarian Reform (P574 million); Department of Trade and Industry (P549 million); Department of Labor and Employment (P507 million); TESDA (P423 million); Department of Environment and Natural Resources (P417 million); Department of Trade (P175 million); Department of Energy (P97 million); and National Electrification Administration (P78 million).

Roxas explained that the GPBP institutionalizes the Aquino government’s “bottom-up” approach in budget preparation process, which was introduced last year 2013.

Criselda Cabangon David, a happy mother of two kids, is a full-time Sociologist at the City Government of Lucena, Quezon Province. She is currently the Managing Editor of Ang Diaryo Natin Sunday News, a weekly local community newspaper in the Philippines and an active member of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.