ZAMBOANGA CITY — Mayor Celso Lobregat on Wednesday reported to the local legislative body that the city’s development continues to surge ahead with 2,045 projects amounting to P3.29 billion had been completed within a span of three years (2009 to 2011), surpassing his administration’s record-breaking performance last year.
“So much has been done in my first term, so much more has been done in my second term but the best is yet to come.” These, Lobregat said, were the very words he highlighted in his State of the City Report last year.
“Now I tell you, part of the best is already here and more of the best is coming soon and still to come,” Lobregat declared in his one hour and 26-minute State of the City Report during the City Council’s maiden session held at the convention center of the Garden Orchid Hotel.
Building on the successes his administration had made in the last eight years, Lobregat stressed his administration continues to be prudent and judicious in the allocation of the city’s revenues and resources.
He recalled that when he was first elected mayor in 2004, the annual budget of the city was P1.034 billion, but for 2011 it was P2.110 billion and for 2012, the projected annual budget is P2.156 billion, more than double the budget in 2004.
He said this city’s annual budget for 2012 has increased despite the reduction of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of all cities brought about by two factors--low collection by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 2009 and the Supreme Court’s flip-flopping decision to convert the 16 municipalities into cities.
To cushion the huge decrease in IRA and sustain the momentum, Lobregat said receipts in local taxes for 2012 were projected at P620 million or an increase of P52.55 million compared to that of 2011.
Also included in 2012 Annual Budget is a reversion of continuing appropriation in the amount of P96.34 million and P30.44 million from prior years’ surplus.
He also said that again, with sound fiscal management, the city government would have a well-balanced mix of a conservative Personal Services (PS) of 31 percent, a manageable Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) of 36 percent and ensure an impressive Capital Outlay and Equipment (CO&E) of 33 percent.
In terms of expense classification in 2012, Social Services have the highest allocation at 40 percent, followed by General Public Services at 33 percent, and Economic Services at 27 percent.
“As we look around the city--From Barangay Limpapa in the west coast up to Licomo in the east coast, we see the projects and we see real and tangible progress. The best is already here and still so much more is coming,” Lobregat said. (PNA)
RMA/LAM/Teofilo P. Garcia/utb
