TUGUEGARAO, Cagayan – The Department of Budget and Management has suspended Cagayan Province’s programs and projects after finding the entire provincial budget to be “inoperative.”
The DBM concluded that the provincial government could not go into operation after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) eliminated a large portion of its budget, placing the programs and projects of the Cagayan Local Government Unit (PLGU) in limbo as well.
Cagayan Provincial Board Member Rodrigo C. De Asis said the DBM also observed that the SP broke the Local Government Code (LGC) by reducing the provincial budget by P21 million from the 20% development fund of Cagayan. This is in violation of the Local Government Code’s (LGC) rules, he said.
According to BM De Asis, the SP has no authority over the provincial government’s flagship “No Barangay Left Behind” (NBLB) programs, which were also cut.
The provincial legislator emphasized that the NBLB policy is under the purview of the executive branch of the provincial government.
Vice Governor Melvin Vargas Jr. and the majority of the Sangunniang Panlalawigan were responsible for “too much politicking” and the budget impasse, according to Cagayan Governor Manuel N. Mamba.
“After purposefully postponing the passage of the yearly budget for 6 years in a row, they should explain it (the budget problem) to the Cagayanos. How wasteful!” Governor Mamba said.
One of the five top performing institutionalized initiatives in the nation, NBLB is Cagayan province government’s flagship initiative.
It enables all villages in Cagayan to access financial resources and aims to empower local communities by giving them access to resources for barangay-level development.
Since 2016, 820 villages have benefited from the initiative that stresses cooperative leadership and community empowerment at the village level, according to the Governor.
Each village in Cagayan established a formalized Agkaykaysa, or “to unite” in Ilokano, which led to the creation of 5,720 independent groups.
“It invests on people-decided village-level infrastructure, it invests in education to address poverty, and it funds the development of leadership among the Cagayan youth,” Mamba said.
