Vice Governor Rene Lopez Relampagos and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP)’s Committee on Finance, Budget and Appropriations, have started hearings of the proposed annual budget of the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh) for 2022.

The series of budget hearings started on Nov. 11, 2021 where officials from different offices of the Capitol, including the heads of the 10 province-owned hospitals will be summoned to discuss and participate in the deliberations as well as provide justification for their respective proposed budget.

The officers from the Provincial Treasurer’s Office, Provincial Budget Office, Provincial Accounting Office, Provincial Planning and Development Office, and the Provincial Human Resource Management and Development Office were the first ones asked to attend the first budget hearing last Thursday.

On the second day, Nov. 12, 2021, the officers from Provincial Health Office and the ten (10) hospitals owned and operated by PGBh attended the budget hearing.

Most of the hospitals owned by the PGBh stand to receive significant increase in their respective budgets in order to respond better to the challenges posed by the Coronavirus disease (Covid) and to hire more hospital personnel.

Meanwhile, the rest of the other offices are slated to attend the hearings slated next week on Nov. 18 and 19, 2021.

According to Retutal, the proposed 2022 budget has a total amount of P4,291,173,605.00 which is lower by 6% compared to the current year’s budget of P4,607,518,586.00.