By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD CITY — A series of committee meetings will be held this week before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental tackles the 2025 annual budget of the provincial government.
Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer, the SP’s presiding officer, said the 2025 annual budget was submitted by the Office of the Governor last week.
He said the proposed 2025 budget was forwarded to the Finance Committee, chaired by Board Member Rommel Debulgado, for deliberation.
The committee will review the budget, which will include the appearance of department heads to justify their annual allocations.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has proposed a budget of P6,457,539,794 for 2025, an increase of P1,022,895,094, or 18.2 percent, compared to the 2024 budget.
The proposed budget includes P6,203,085,130 for the general fund and P254,454,664 earmarked for the Economic Enterprise Development Department.
Lacson said the province’s 2025 National Tax Allotment is P5,823,485,130, an increase of P918,771,586 compared to this year’s NTA.
In his letter to the provincial board, Lacson said the 2025 executive budget reflects the administration’s continued commitment to its 7-Point Development Agenda, known as Abanse Negrense.
“It has been carefully crafted to guide us in our pursuit of sustained progress and development, with a focus on achieving a Negrense brand of good governance and growth,” Lacson said.
Ferrer said the SP is aiming to approve the budget by the first week of December this year.
