HOPING to get reelected next year, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III has proposed a bigger budget for 2016 to finance several projects.
The proposed budget submitted to the Provincial Board on Friday amounted to P3.6 billion, about 20 percent more than the P3 billion allotted for this year.
“We’re looking at a lot of projects, pending projects that need funding. We hope to pursue them this year or next year, hopefully, if I get reelected,” Davide told reporters.
About three-fourths of the proposed budget or P2.66 billion is allotted for different executive offices.
This is about 20 percent more than this year’s allocation of P2.18 billion.
Among the biggest increases were proposed by the Provincial Engineering Office, which is asking for P146.79 million in 2016, about 85 percent more than its P79.11-million allocation for this year.
The Provincial Agriculture Office’s budget grew 43 percent, from the current allocation of P64.84 million to P92.71 million for next year.
The Provincial Health Office, on the other hand, will see a slight increase in allocation to P422.89 million from the current P409.350 million.
A proposed budget of P375.58 million was set aside for the operation of 16 provincial and district hospitals. This is almost P78 million bigger than the current budget of P297.5 million.
Development projects and activities get an allocation of P520 million, P57.4 million bigger than the current budget of P462 million.
For the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT), the budget has been proposed to increase to P79 million from P61.6 million this year.