By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer yesterday made an assurance that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) will approve the proposed P5.7 billion provincial budget for 2022 during their regular session on Tuesday, November 16.

According to Ferrer, they are on schedule and even ahead when it comes to the budget deliberations and approval.

He explained they are making sure that the province’s COVID-response is in place in order for them to be responsive to the needs of the province’s residents.

Last Tuesday, he said the deliberation was about the budget of the Provincial Health Office and hospitals run by the provincial government.

The proposed 2022 Provincial Budget is 20 percent higher compared to the 2021 budget of P4.4 billion.

The increase is due to the Mandanas Ruling of the Supreme Court, which said that all collections of the Commission on Customs and other taxes will be included in the computation of the National Tax Allotment (NTA), otherwise known as the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).

A big chunk of the proposed P5,719,337,346 budget for 2022 will go to Special Purpose Appropriations (SPA) pegged at P2,142,140,592 or 37.45 percent./DGB, WDJ