PhP19.5-B in BUB projects to help develop Mindanao -- Abad

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 29): PhP19.5-B in BUB projects to help develop Mindanao -- Abad

The Aquino Administration’s Bottom-up Budgeting (BUB) Summit launches in Davao this week to highlight and track the progress of various BUB projects in the Mindanao Cluster, altogether amounting to PhP19.5 billion from 2013 to 2016.

Running from September 29 to October 1 at the Apo View Hotel in Davao City, the BuB Summit will be attended by an estimated 450-500 representatives from civil society organizations (CSOs), national government agencies (NGAs), and local government units (LGUs).

The Mindanao Cluster is composed of six administrative regions involved in the BuB program since the initiative was first established in 2013. The cluster is represented by, among others, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, SOCCSKSARGEN, and the CARAGA regions.

To date, this cluster has received a total budget allocation of PhP19.5 billion for 15,539 projects. These include those proposed for in the 2016 National Expenditure Program (NEP) amounting to PhP5.98 billion for 3,532 BUB projects.

“The BUB program was developed to give grassroots communities a greater voice and stake in the national budget process. For Mindanao, this program is crucial in delivering much-needed government services to far-flung communities. At the same time, BUB allows us to improve governance in vulnerable and risk-prone areas,” said Budget and Management Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad.

“With the establishment of peace and the rule of law in Mindanao, we trust that prosperity will follow as Filipinos in Mindanao benefit from real and inclusive development,” he added.

Convened by the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), the workshop is supported by the Departments of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Budget and Management (DBM), Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

This event is preceded by other BUB summits recently held in Manila and Subic. The Davao workshop will focus on improving the BUB planning process and speeding up its implementation.

At the same time, the workshop will provide a venue for discussions on how to enhance the partnerships between LGUs and CSOs, boost local government capacity to implement BUB programs, and consider appropriate ways to communicate the goals of BUB to the public.

“Through BUB, LGUs and CSOs can help identify poverty-reduction projects for implementation in their localities. More importantly, Filipinos in Mindanao are now part of the decision-making process for local projects that have an impact on their lives. BUB is really an exercise in citizen empowerment,” Abad said.

The BUB program in the 2015 current budget covers 1,590 municipalities and cities across the country, with a budget of PhP20.9 billion.

For 2016, the Aquino Administration is pushing for a budget of PhP24.7 billion to support the implementation of more than 14,300 BUB projects nationwide.

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