La Union Heads for Fiscal Efficiency
By: Hiram Nephi A. Costales, GPC-PBO | Photo By: GPC-PBO | Date: 2021
“Reset, Rebound, and Recover; Investing for Resiliency and Sustainability.” With the overarching theme of the Duterte Administration proposed FY 2021 Budget, the Province of La Union is aligned on its vision to be a “Stronger La Union” as it’s transformative Governance roadmap in consistency with the effort of the nation on overcoming the challenges brought by the CoViD-19 pandemic while recovering.
With a total available resources for the CY 2021 of P1,566,933,453.00, the Provincial Government of La Union (PGLU) will continue to pursue excellence in achieving its mandate to serve the constituents of the Province of La Union. Within this perceived Proposed Budget for CY 2021, an amount of P294,954,520.60 is allotted for the Development Fund with various programs aimed to help the development in the Social, Economic, and Environment sectors. It also includes the annual contingency fund for disasters and calamities whether it be man-made or due to natural disaster amounting to P78,346,672.65.
However, due to the unexpected onset of the CoViD-19 pandemic and its persisting effect into the community, a recalibration of the PGLU plans and budget priorities to include COVID-19 recovery programs, projects, and activities as expenditure priorities for the departments of the province was made for their budget proposals in order to mitigate the effect of the pandemic on the operations of the departments and offices of the province. With this strategy, La Union aims to be a Stronger Province and continue to sustain the lives of the people and enhance the province’ adaptability to resume its progress and inclusive development trajectory. The CY 2021 Propose Budget reflects provisions on addressing the pandemic and the mitigation of the impact and adaptation of the Province of La Union to the new normal ensuring economic recovery and progress.
As included in the Budget Message, Gov. Francisco Emmanuel “Pacoy” R. Ortega III said, “The Provincial Government of La Union shall focus its resources on the updated medium-term transformative strategy on Response, Recovery, and Local Economic Development to achieve a secure, self-sufficient and sustainable province under the new normal arising from addressing the CoViD-19 pandemic and to position La Union as the Heart of Agri-Tourism in Northern Luzon by 2025.” With this, the Resilient Community Sector has the highest amount of proposed allocation comprising 28.23% of the total budget. This sector includes the Provincial Health Office, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office. Programs, Projects, and Activities that aimed to address the challenges on environmental sustainability and public health are priorities to be funded and implemented for the coming year. Aside from these offices, the Information and Communication Technology Unit also has significant increase in their proposed budget in order to address the rising demand in e-governance.
