RDC forms TWG on Ancestral Domain

PALAYAN CITY, Nueva Ecija-Regional Development Council (RDC) has approved the request of its Sectoral Committee on Social Development, which is chaired by Governor Lilia Pineda of Pampanga, on the creation of a Technical Working Group (TWG) on Ancestral Domain.

 

“The TWG shall assess the state of ancestral domain lands in Central Luzon and recommend ways to facilitate and derive maximum benefit from the use of it for the improvement of the economic conditions of Indigenous Peoples (IPs),” RDC Vice Chair and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Severino Santos said.

 

“This initiative supports the provisions of Articles XIII and XIV of the Philippine Constitution and Republic Act 8371 otherwise known as Indigenous Peoples Rights Act,” Santos added.

 

National Commission on Indigenous Peoples shall head the TWG with NEDA, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Interior and Local Government, the RDC Private Sector Representative for IPs, and provincial government of Pampanga as members.

 

RDC 3 is the highest policy-making body in Central Luzon and serves as the counterpart of the NEDA Board at the subnational level.

 

It is the primary institution that coordinates and sets the direction of all economic and social development efforts in the region and serves as a forum where local efforts can be related and integrated with national development activities.

 

Council members include all governors, city mayors, municipal mayors of capital towns, presidents of municipal mayors’ league, regional directors of national government agencies and representatives from the private sector. (Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu)

National government allots P1.5B for 2015 Grassroots Participatory Projects in CL

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga-The national government has allotted for 2015 around P1.5 billion for funding of 1,144 projects in Central Luzon under the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GPB) formerly known as Bottom-Up Budgeting.

 

Department of Agriculture has the most number of projects with 285 followed Department of Social Welfare and Development with 257, Department of Education-170, Department of Health-148, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)- 118, Department of Trade and Industry-76, Department of Labor and Employment-44, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority-24, Department of Tourism and Department of Environment and Natural Resources with 10 each, and Department of Energy and National Electrification Administration with one each.

 

“GPB is a process through which priority poverty reduction projects are identified jointly by citizens and their local governments and are incorporated into the proposed budgets of the implementing national government agencies submitted to Congress for approval,” DILG Regional Director Florida Dijan said.

 

It specifically seeks to make the national budget more responsive to local needs, provide incentives for local good governance, strengthen the devolution of basic services delivery, create a conducive environment for people’s participation, and generate demand for good governance at the local level.

 

GPB cycle begins with the conduct of city/municipal civil society general assembly whose main agenda is have an orientation on the undertaking, conduct poverty situation analysis, and election of members and co-chairpersons of the Local Poverty Reduction Action Team (LPRAT).

 

Civil Society Representatives (CSO) shall constitute 50 percent of the membership of the LPRAT while the remainder shall come from both the national and local government.

 

It is followed by the holding of local poverty reduction planning workshops; submission of list of priority projects and other supporting documents to DILG; consolidation of list of projects by DILG Regional Office and submission to the National Anti-Poverty Commission and distribution to Regional PRAT members; adoption of final list of priority projects by local Sanggunian; integration into the national budget; and provision of funding for local government unit (LGU) counterpart in local budget.

 

“Projects must be supportive to the provision of basic social services and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals; hunger mitigation and elimination; job generation and inclusive local economic development; climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness; and shall not be less than P500,000 except for Gulayan sa Paaralan,” Dijan explained.

 

Over P20 billion was allocated for GPB projects this 2014 covering 1,226 towns and cities of which 52 are in Central Luzon.

 

For next year, it shall cover all LGUs including Region 3’ s 116 towns and 14 cities. (Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu)

RDC OKs construction of Pulilan-Baliuag Diversion Road

PALAYAN CITY, Nueva Ecija-Regional Development Council (RDC) has passed a resolution favorably endorsing the construction of the P660 million, 10-kilometer Pulilan-Baliuag Diversion Road in a bid to boost the potentials of Bulacan’s emerging agri-industrial area.

 

It has a width of 20 meters as well as a 2.80-meter, two-lane bridge and drainage with Tibag, Pulilan serving as entry point and Makinabang/Pinagbarilan in Baliuag as exit point.

 

“The strategic location of Pulilan along the confluence of North Luzon Expressway and Cagayan Valley Road has made vehicle traffic a major issue specifically multi-national companies and factories located in the northern part of the municipality where trucks coming from the central business district (CBD) cause heavy traffic and delays in delivery of goods and services. This road is expected to address the matter,” RDC Vice Chair and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Severino Santos said.

 

RDC 3 is the highest policy-making body in Central Luzon and serves as the counterpart of the NEDA Board at the subnational level.

 

It is the primary institution that coordinates and sets the direction of all economic and social development efforts in the region and serves as a forum where local efforts can be related and integrated with national development activities.

 

Council members include all governors, city mayors, municipal mayors of capital towns, presidents of municipal mayors’ league, regional directors of national government agencies and representatives from the private sector. (Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu)

NIA’S 2015 BUDGET GETS A NOD FROM CONGRESS

MANILA-The proposed P28.824-billion budgetary support  for the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) under the National Expenditure Program (NEP), which forms 90% of the total NIA budget, has been approved by the House of Representatives during the budget plenary sponsored by Ilocos Sur 2^nd District Representative Eric D. Singson on September 23, 2014.

The NIA – which has been placed under the supervision of the Office of the President’s Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization (PAFSAM) headed by Secretary Francis N. Pangilinan together with the National Food Authority (NFA), Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), and Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority (FPA – satisfactorily addressed the inquiries of the House members  and provided sufficient justifications pushing Singson to move for the approval of the agency’s budget. However, NFA was scheduled for another plenary.

Bulk of the budgetary support the agency will receive from the government, or 57%, amounting to P16.614 billion is allocated for locally-funded projects (LFPs). LFPs include small reservoir irrigation projects, small pump irrigation projects, feasibility studies and detailed engineering, Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Projects (GPBP), Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) Program, and other major irrigation projects such as the Casecnan  Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project Phase II (CMIPP-II), Balog-Balog Multipurpose Irrigation Project Phase II (BBMP-II), Malinao Dam Improvement Project (MDIP), Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project Phase II (MMIP-II), and Umayam River Irrigation Project (URIP).

NIA’s Operations, which include Irrigation Network Services (estension/expansion and restoration/rehabilitation of existing projects, climate change adaptation works, Irrigation Management Transfer Support Services, and Payment of Right-of-Way and Completion works & unpaid claims) and Construction of irrigation projects and repair of systems, claims 27% of the allocation amounting to P7.710 billion.

The remaining amount went to the agency’s foreign-assisted projects (P2.279 billion or 8%); general administration and support (P1.643 billion or 6%); and support to operations (P.578 billion or 2%).

The other 10% of the total NIA budget falls under the corporate funds amounting to P3.205 billion making the overall NIA budget P32.029 billion.