PALAYAN CITY – Local officials and members of civil society organizations in Central Luzon which crafted the initial batch of various programs in their respective municipalities under Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GBP) launched on Friday a drive to collect one million signatures to retain the program and press for the passage of a proposed legislation to have it institutionalized.
The drive was made amidst attacks on the budgeting system, introduced in 2012, over allegation that the fund releases under the program is actually pork barrel of President Aquino and being used to advance the political interest of administration allies.
Some 250 leaders and representatives of basic sectors in Luzon gathered in a conference and signature launch at the Sierra Madre Suites here. According to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional office, a total of P758,483,110 has been allocated to 770 projects identified under GBP for 52 local government units, involving five cities and 47 municipalities in Central Luzon under the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2014.
Of the figure, the DILG reported, the Department of Agriculture had the biggest part with 172 projects, while National Electrification Administration and the Department of Labor and Employment got the least having one project each.
Thirty one of these projects are already completed, 253 are on-going while 486 are pipelined. Penaranda Mayor Ferdinand Abesamis, president of League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Luzon Cluster, said GPB is “a classic example of people empowerment,” and an “un-corruptible way of implementing projects that really suited to the people’s need.”
He noted that a Supreme Court decision which held portions of the Aquino government’s disbursement acceleration program unconstitutional has delayed the implementation of some projects under GPB program.
“Why would we let this go?” Abesamis said. Marco Polo Ferrer, national secretary of Kilos Mamamayan, said the signature drive would also push for the passage of House Bill 4113 introduced by Rep. Leonora Robredo, widow of the late Interior Sec. Jesse Robredo, which seeks to make GPB as system beyond Aquino administration.
Ferrer said that GPB allows people through their organizations in partnership with local governments and national agencies to jointly assess projects and programs which they believe will best help address poverty.
This year, he said, the national government has allocated P20 billion under GAA 2014 for various projects and programs. Around 1,226 cities and municipalities will benefit from such funding support that will come from various implementing agencies, he stressed.
“The signature campaign calls on the country’s policyand decision-makers, especially the legislators, to take the cudgel and stand side-byside with the people on the issue of the GPB to strengthen and to institutionalize the process to protect their interest,” Ferrer added.
Among the agencies that download budget to LGUs through GPB are DA, DSWD, DOH, DepEd, DILG, DENR, TESDA, DOLE, DTI, DOT, DAR, NEA and DOE. Dr. Abraham Pascua, DILG Director for Nueva Ecija, said 17 LGUs in the province have their projects approved under the budgeting system.
He said they started the program with almost no one believing. “Hindi kami talaga makapaniwala. Kahit ako dahil sa tagal so sa DILG ay hindi ako nakarinig na grassroots ang pwedeng mag-plano ng projects,” Pascua, who is concurrent DILG assistant regional director, said. He led the distribution of checks from DILG to various LGUs during the conference.
