According to Iloilo City Councilor Eduardo Peñaredondo, who chairs the appropriations committee, the 2018 city budget will be just over P2.2 billion, an increase of around 10.8 percent from the previous year.

More than half of the entire budget will be allotted for special purpose appropriations and personnel.

However, the Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) saw a cut to their budget, as the city councilor cited declining profits from the city slaughterhouse.

“Our revenue from markets is not rising,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) Committee on Appropriations and Finance earlier conducted hearings for the proposed P2.25 billion 2018 city budget.

City Councilor Caesar Distrito, who chairs the committee, noted their priority items included health services, traffic management, funding Bacolod City College (BCC), among other items.

In addition, he also called for the city sports budget to be doubled, from P2.4 million to P5 million, saying, “Bacolodnons are fond of watching [sporting] events and it is high time for the city to allocate funds to promote such activities.”/PLL, WDJ