DAVAO CITY (Mindanews/ 2 December) – The Davao City Council approved Friday a P12.7-billion budget for 2024, a 7.62-percent increase from the P11.8-billion budget this year.
Myrna Ortiz, chair of the committee on finance, ways and means, and appropriations, said the budget increases happened after the funds for the city development and devolved projects and programs were transferred to the regular budget of various offices.
According to their committee report, P4 billion was allocated for the programs of the offices under the City Mayor’s Office.
Around P2 billion was allocated for the City Engineer’s Office, P845 million for the City Social Welfare and Development Office, P826 million for the City Disaster Risk Reduction And Management Office, and P812 million for the City Health Office.
For 2024, the general fund proper of the city costs P10,121,413,271 or 79.82 percent of the total proposed budget, which covers the expenditures “for personal services, maintenance and other operating expenses, and capital outlays of the departments, offices, and units of the City Government of Davao, except the economic enterprises”.
Of the budget, 19.04 percent was allocated for the annual development fund, costing P2.4 billion, of which P1.6 billion or 67 percent will be used for funding and maintaining projects such as buildings, road networks, power supply systems, and other related infrastructure.
The budget ordinance also states that an amount of P925,324,655 was allocated from the General Fund Proper of the 2023 budget to the Annual Development Fund for 2024.
“The budget increased simply because the implementing agencies now, that’s like the City Health Office, and other agencies which were implementing programs under the ADF, be it infra or non-infra, are now being lodged to their individual offices,” Ortiz said.
Meanwhile, lump sum or unitemized appropriations and statutory and contractual obligations were also lodged under the budget of the city department offices, following the Local Budget and Management memorandum circular 87 released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) last June 9, 2023.
Based on the recent DBM memorandum cited by Ortiz, local government units are entitled to a National Taxes Allotment share of P295.47 billion for municipalities, P201.22 billion for cities, P200.42 billion for provinces, and P174.28 billion for barangays.
The 2024 budget will focus on poverty alleviation, infrastructure development, solid waste management, health, education and human resource development, agriculture and agribusiness, business and industry support development, transportation planning and traffic management, peace and order, disaster risk reduction and mitigation, good governance through innovations and ICT, and tourism development and support services.
“These key priority areas reflect the DUTERTE initiatives and projects for 2024 of the City Government of Davao, which adopt the theme ‘Digitalization and Usage of Technology for an Enterprising Regime that is Transparent and Efficient.’,” the ordinance reads. (Ian Carl Espinosa/Mindanews)
