2012 PHL regions budget up 28.7% to P799.6B

For the 17 Philippine administrative regions, the Aquino Administration has allocated P799.6 billion under the proposed 2012 national budget, the Department of Budget and Management said Wednesday. The budget is 28.7 percent more than the P621.2 billion allotted for the regions this year, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said. He also said, “About 44 percent of the proposed 2012 budget, versus 37.5 percent in 2011, has been allocated for the regions." By allocating a higher budget for the regions, Abad said the Aquino administration is making ensure that national government spending goes to the intended beneficiaries. Regions in the Visayas were allotted P165.3 billion, up 31.2 percent, and those in Mindanao were given P219.1 billion or 32.8 percent more than what was given under the 2011General Appropriations Act. While the regions in Luzon will get the largest share of P415.1 billion, the allocation has a narrower growth rate of 25.7 percent. Poorer regions get more The poorer regions in the Visayas and Mindanao will register the highest budgetary increases for 2012, Abad said, which include Western Mindanao (39.4 percent), Eastern Visayas (38.7 percent), Caraga (37.9 percent), Soccsksargen (36.9 percent), Southern Mindanao (34.6 percent), Central Visayas (32.5 percent), and Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (31.7 percent). The Aquino administration, meanwhile, lowered the non-regionalized portions of the budget by 23.4 percent to P1.016 trillion from P1.327 trillion. Abad earlier said that P150.5 billion in lump-sum funds were re-assigned to specific projects or to regional and sub-regional recipients under the proposed 2012 budget. “Through the zero-based budgeting approach, the Aquino government saw the need to move away from lump-sum budgeting," he said. The higher outlay for the regions, provinces and municipalities would translate to more programs and projects outside the NCR, according to the Budget secretary. “Furthermore, this will increase transparency and accountability by facilitating the exercise of oversight in the disbursement of funds," he said. — VS, GMA News