4 Eastern Visayas Provinces Tagged As ‘Geographical Focus’ For 2017 Government Spending

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has identified four of the six provinces in the region as priority for poverty alleviation and disaster risk reduction under the proposed 2017 government spending.

NEDA Regional Director Bonifacio Uy said these provinces are Leyte, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Southern Leyte.

The central government picked Leyte as one of the “geographical focus” for having the most number of poor in the region (132,377 families). Eastern Samar and Northern Samar have been tagged as the two provinces with highest poverty incidence at 63.7 percent and 50.2 percent, respectively.

“All these three provinces, including Southern Leyte are considered as priority since they are highly vulnerable to disasters,” Uy said.

Regional offices of national government agencies and state universities and colleges submitted their 2017 budget proposals on February 20.

Uy said there is an ongoing sectoral committee budget consultation for the new spending proposals of regional offices of national government agencies and state universities and colleges (SUCs).

Budget proposals will be presented to the Regional Development Council full council meeting next week for review.

“Budget proposals shall be appraised based on relevance, impact, implementation readiness, and sustainability,” Uy added.

All concerned agencies are guided by the Budget Priorities Framework in line with the administration’s goals of sustaining rapid growth and inclusive development.

The priority areas are summarized into six – fast post-disaster recovery, inclusive growth, good governance, reduction of disaster vulnerabilities, establishment of an enabling environment of just and lasting peace and the rule of law, and improved economy. (PNA) FFC/SQM