TACLOBAN CITY — The Eastern Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC) will continue to lobby for the inclusion of the PHP71.6-billion proposed budget for the region in the 2020 national expenditure.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Meylene Rosales told the Philippine News Agency on Tuesday the task is not yet done even after the endorsement of the region’s highest policy-making body.
“After the RDC approval, it is contingent upon central offices of national government agencies to include the proposal in the National Expenditure Program and eventually in the General Appropriations Act. RDC officials will continue to push for funding our program and projects through a meeting with key officials of central offices,” Rosales said.
The RDC will also organize an advisory committee meeting within this year with 12 members of the House of Representatives and party-list representatives in Eastern Visayas.
During its meeting on March 29, the Eastern Visayas RDC endorsed PHP71.6 billion worth of priority programs and projects of 34 agency regional offices and 10 state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the region.
Endorsed priority projects of the agency regional offices were submitted to their central offices for inclusion in their respective budget proposals. Those of SUCs were forwarded to Commission on Higher Education main office.
The council endorsed the proposed outlay after the four sectoral committees scrutinized all the proposals, preceded by a tripartite review and consultation between and among the agency and state universities concerned, the Department of Budget and Management, and NEDA as the RDC secretariat.
Priority projects endorsed are supportive of the strategies and targets in the Eastern Visayas Regional Development Plan, Regional Development Investment Program, and Results Matrices 2017-2022. They were also found to be implementation-ready. (PNA)
