Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Forty-five local government units in the Bicol region received a total of P133.5 million from the national government to fund various projects under the bottom-up budgeting process of the Aquino administration.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas personally distributed the checks to local officials last week during the meeting of the Koalisyon ng Mamamayan Para sa Reporma, an alliance of people’s organizations and civil society groups.
“Politicians or government officials do not have a say on this. (The people) chose these projects. This is part of the ‘straight path’ that we’re treading,” Roxas said in a statement.
He said bottom-up budgeting, a pioneering participatory budgeting process first introduced by his predecessor, the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, put importance on the role of the public in identifying projects which the government should fund and prioritize.
Of the total amount, P61 million went to the 16 municipalities of Camarines Sur, while checks amounting to P27 million were given to nine local government units of Masbate province.
Albay province received a total of P26 million, Camarines Norte got P9.4 million and Catanduanes was given P3 million.
On the other hand, Roxas distributed checks worth P7 million to six municipalities of Sorsogon.
Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said the government has earmarked P20.9 billion this year to finance various bottom-up budgeting projects as part of its efforts to “campaign for citizen participation in public spending.”
Under the new system, Abad said LGUs and people’s organizations “can effectively respond to the different needs of their communities.”
“Bottom-up budgeting in the Philippines is a landmark reform because we are the first country in the world that has implemented participatory budgeting at the national level,” he said.