By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said Thursday that the Sanggunian Panlungsod here will approve next week the 2021 budget of the city government amounting to P2.6 billion.
Familiaran told Daily Guardian that the 2021 budget is P400 million, or 13 percent lower, compared to the P3-billion budget for 2020.
The vice mayor said this is due to the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic.
He also said that the 2021 budget was approved on second reading during their regular session on Dec 4, 2020.
Earlier, Mayor Evelio Leonardia said Bacolod City will “slow down” because of the pandemic.
“Bacolod was accelerating very fast during the past years. It took us 80 years to reach our first P1-billion budget, but it only took us nine years to reach the second billion and only two years to reach the third billion. So that’s how fast we were growing, but all of a sudden because of this pandemic, we have to slow down,” he said.
Leonardia also said that for the first time, the budget dropped by about 13 percent but he believes that this is very understandable because of the pandemic.
This year’s budget prioritizes health services, the solid waste management, social welfare services, public order and safety, anti-drug campaign as in line with the national thrust, improvement of traffic management, economic and infrastructure development, tourism and education.
He added that despite the reduced budget, it will not affect the City Health Office because the priority is to address COVID-19.
