Ilocos RDC okays P1 billion budget for 2021 programs

By Mar T. Supnad 

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union - The Regional Development Council in Region 1 (RDC-1) has approved the proposed budget for priority programs and projects (PAPs) of the council’s five development sectors for calendar year 2021.

                Vigan City Mayor Juan Carlo S. Medina, RDC chairperson, said the projected budget for the PAPs of the 35 Regional Line Agencies (RLAs) and State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) were ratified during the council’s first quarter meeting Feb. 26 at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas office here.

                The 35 RLAs and SUCs that submitted budget of their PAPs were under five sectors of development in the region.

These sectors included those on infrastructure and utility, social,  economic, environment sector and governance.

                He said the proposed PAPs’ budget of the five sectors were taken during the review and consultation on the first quarter’s regular meeting of the five sectors held on Feb. 10 to 14.

                “The projected budget of the identified PAPs for Region 1 had been reviewed to ensure it is consistent and supportive to regional thrusts and priorities as contained in the updated RDC plan 2017-2022 and its result matrices and updated RDC investment program 2020-2022 approved by the RDC and that these complement with LGU and other agencies’ PAPs,” said Medina.

The consolidated planned budget per sector includes P67.8 billion for infrastructure and utility sector; P25.8 billion for the social sector; P5.7 billion for economic, P267 million for environment and P401 million for governance.

The PAPs are focused in addressing concerns on poverty alleviation, economic livelihood development, environment protection, capacity building; and sustainable peace, growth and development in Region 1.  

According to Medina, the proposed budget for PAPs in Region 1 will be endorsed by RDC -1 to the central offices of the concerned RLAs and SUCs for inclusion to their proposed programs and budget for CY 2021.

Other significant programs approved during the RDC-1 full council meeting were master plan for sustainable urban infrastructure development of Vigan City; lower Amburayan Development Corridor Planning Assistance Initiative (LADC-PAI) in Region 1 and guidelines for updating of the Harmonized Regional Research and Development Agenda (HRRDA) CY 2017-2022.