LGUs granted extension to meet BuB requirements

THE BUDGET department has extended the period for local government units (LGUs) to comply with requirements set in order to tap funds allocated under the government’s bottom-up budgeting (BuB) program.

The agency through Joint Memorandum Circular No. 6-A allows the provisional release of BuB funds to towns and cities, provided that they meet the standards required of them by end-September this year. The original deadline was set on March 2015.

The circular was jointly signed by the heads of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the National Anti-Poverty Commission, which covers fund allocations under the 2015 national budget.

LGUs must secure good governance conditions as certified by the national government before they can access additional funding through the BuB scheme, where local governments, civil society and community organizations identify and propose poverty reduction programs that may be funded by the national government.

LGUs can tap as much as P20 million for a poverty reduction project within their locale each year since it was launched in 2013 by outgoing Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad.

However, incoming Budget chief Benjamin E. Diokno said in a television interview that the BuB was merely used as a “political tool” under the Aquino administration.

Should an LGU fail to achieve the requirements outlined under the BuB program by the end of the third quarter, the funds for the local projects will be released either to the provincial government where the area is located, or to a concerned participating agency for implementation, the circular read.

However, the province that will receive the funds must also meet the Good Financial Housekeeping standard required of any LGU, as well as a letter expressing their “willingness” to carry out the project for the concerned city or municipality.

The Budget department allocated P24.7 billion for BuB projects under the P3.002-trillion national budget this year, with plans to raise the allocation to P35 billion in 2017. -- M.L.T. Lopez

source:  Businessworld