133 Baguio roads cleared / P2.2 billion city budget

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – This summer capital is hastening ways to ease traffic. For one, the city government through the City Engineering Office reported that a total of 133 roads in various barangays in the city had been cleared of obstructions in the city as of Sept. 30.

Majority of the obstacles removed were illegally parked vehicles as per the Barangay Compliance Report submitted to the Dept. of Interior and Local Government Baguio Field Office.

In an earlier report dated Sept. 27 or two days before the deadline set in the road clearing directive of President Duterte, the CEO also said that an initial stretch of of 25.648 kilometers of road, both national and barangay had been cleared of obstructions in the city. 

The initial report prepared by Asst. City Engr. Constancio Imson Jr. showed that clearing operations were conducted from Aug. 8 to Sept. 27, 2019 in two national roads covering 3.872 kilometers and in 44 barangay roads covering 2.776 kilometers.

The national roads were Gov. Pack and Marcos Highway while the 44 barangay roads were located in barangays Pinsao Pilot, Bayan Park Village, Quezon Hill Proper, Upper Quezon Hill, Loakan Proper, Sto. Tomas Proper, Upper QM, ABCR, New Lucban, South Sanitary Camp, Kias, Queen of Peace, Camdas, Trancoville, Happy Homes, Lower Quirinio Hill, Middle Quirino Hill, East Quirino Hill, Pinget, Central Guisad, Padre Zamora, Lower Magsaysay, Sto. Nino, Dizon Subd., DPS Compound, Engineer’s Hill, Gibraltar, Holy Ghost Proper, M. Roxas, Outlook Driver, Pacdal, St. Joseph, Upper Gen. Luna, Loakan, Bayan Park Village and Camp Allen. 

In Marcos Highway, ten structures were reported to have been demolished while eight were partially torn down even as some of the 267 violators earlier identified and subject of demolition had begun to voluntarily remove their structures, according to Imson.

A final report on the compliance will be submitted after assessments accomplishments were completed, according to Engr. Januario Borillo of the CEO. 

The operations were in compliance with the DILG Memorandum Circular 121-2019 issued in line with the President’s order in his fourth State-of-the-Nation Address for the clearing of roads nationwide issued on July 29, 2019 and which set a 60-day deadline for LGUs to comply.

As per the DILG press statement , LGUs, apart from conducting road clearing operations, must also “profile the various obstructions identified based on the road inventory and report the number and kind of obstruction for the information and action of concerned DILG Undersecretaries and Assistant Secretaries designated in their region”.

Moreover, LGUs “must enact or revisit ordinances related to road clearing and banning of illegal construction; prepare an inventory of roads within their jurisdiction; develop and implement displacement strategies; and cause the rehabilitation of recovered public roads.”

In the city, the ordinances related to road clearing and banning illegal constructions are Ordinance No. 7 series of 1984 entitled “An Ordinance Adopting a Comprehensive Transportation and Traffic Regulations in Baguio City” and Ordinance 18 series of 2016 or the Environmental Code of Baguio City.

DILG validation teams were formed composed of a DILG officer cross-posted from a different LGU, a representative from the local Philippine National Police unit; a representative from the local Bureau of Fire Protection Station; representatives from accredited civil society organizations; and a representative from the Media to review the accomplishments.

“Non-compliant LGUs will be issued show cause orders to explain their side before DILG Secretary Eduardo Año and their names would later be submitted to President Duterte.”

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The city executive department has pegged the tentative budget estimate for the year 2020 at P2,230,000,000.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong led the review of the proposed budget during the Budget Forum on the 2020 Executive Budget held Sept. 24 as a take-off activity for the finalization of the financial plan that will be presented for deliberation and approval by the city council.

The city’s total budget for 2019 was P2,180,656,133.66.

City Budget Officer Leticia Clemente presented the budget estimate based on tentative income projections on local and external sources of income by the city treasury office under City Treasurer Alex Cabarrubias.

Based on the projections, the total estimated income for 2020 is P2,030,000,000. A total of P864,062,938 of the amount comes from internal sources and P1,165,937,062 from external funds.

The internal sources consist of tax revenues and non-tax revenues while the external sources come from shares from national taxes and others.

The tax revenues are categorized as individual and corporation (professional and community tax), property (real property, special education tax and transfer taxes), goods and services (business, delivery trucks and vans, amusement and franchise taxes), hotel occupancy tax and fines and penalties.

The non-tax revenues are broken down as service incomes (permit, registration, clearance and certification, supervision, regulatory enforcement, inspection, verification and authentication, processing and occupation fees, sealing and licensing of weights and measures, fines and penalties service income); business (rent income, parking fees, receipts from market, slaughterhouse and cemetery operations, sales revenue, garbage fees, interest, business and other incomes); and miscellaneous incomes. 

The external sources meanwhile from shares from national taxes (Internal Revenue Allotment, national wealth and economic zones), government-owned and controlled corporations (Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office), extraordinary receipts (grants and donations in kind) and capital or investment receipts (gain on sale of property, plant and equipment).

Included in the total was the beginning balance amounting to P200 million.

The expense component to cover the cost of delivery of basic services is still being finalized to be distributed to the following categories: personal services, maintenance and other operating expenses, capital outlay, Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund and development fund.   

                Also up for review is the proposed Annual Investment Plan (AIP) which lists the projects of the city government for 2020.

City Planning and Development Officer Evelyn Cayat will present the projects to the City Development Council in a meeting set Oct. 8.

The CDC which is chaired by the city mayor will decide on what projects to adopt.

Both the proposed executive budget and the AIP will be subject to the approval of the city council.