In a convention of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) held in Cebu City, Roxas told the more than 500 mayors who attended the event that the government is set to allocate P22 billion of its 2015 national budget for the DILG’s implementation of the Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) program.
Roxas said under the program, the mayor of each municipality would be the one to choose a project based on the need and resources of his locality.
Started in 2012, the BUB is a joint project of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department on Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), which aims to assist 1,223 poorest of the poor municipalities in the country.
Roxas assured the mayors that the BUB program will be included in the 2015 National Budget to be approved by Congress through a General Appropriations Act (GAA), thus, there will be no legal impediments in its implementation.
Roxas, meanwhile, dismissed rumors that the BUB might be used by the Liberal Party (LP) for early campaigning.
Roxas is being eyed as LP’s presidential bet in the 2016 elections.
“Walang basehan yan, dahil lahat ito mapupunta kahit ano pang chaleco ang suot ng mayor. Wala naman itong pulitika, lahat ng bayan mabibigyan, nanalo man si PNoy doon o hindi,” Roxas said in an interview aired on GMA News’ “24 Oras.” —Elizabeth Marcelo/KBK, GMA News
