By Paulo Loreto Lim

The Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) earlier this week approved the proposed P2.25 billion city budget during their regular session.

As earlier reported, the budget is an increase from the previous year, with City Councilor Caesar Distrito, who chairs the appropriations and finance committee, quoting the increase at 12.5 percent.

Both the Tourism Development Office and the allotment for sports saw relatively large increases, with the former seeing a 100 percent increase and the latter, which Distrito advocated for, had their budget doubled.

The councilor noted last month, “Bacolodnons are fond of watching [sporting] events and it is high time for the city to allocate funds to promote such activities.”

A release from the SP also highlighted allocations made for various entitlements including cakes for senior citizens, school supplies to be provided for students, and the payment of school miscellaneous fees.

During the preceding hearings, funding for Bacolod City College (BCC) was indicated as a priority, with the final budget providing a 21.8 percent increase in the school’s annual allotment, which comes to P38 million.

The budget also cites 51 percent of the funding expected for the budget will originate from the city’s internal revenue allotment, which is the city’s share of national tax revenue as determined by the national government. The other 49 percent, around P1.1 billion, will be provided by local sources./PLL, WDJ