The Cebu Provincial Board Budget and Appropriations Committee has proposed P12 billion budget for 2020 –more than double the province’s 2019 funding, to expand health and infrastructure programs.

The proposed budget is expected to be tackled and approved during the board’s next out of town session on 25 November in Camotes Island.

Sixth District Provincial Board Member Glenn Soco, chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, expressed optimism that the 2020 annual budget will be approved without opposition from the other members of the board.

In an interview with Daily Tribune, Soco said “there’s no ceiling on the increase so as long as the LGU can fund the expenditures. The bigger the budget the more programs and projects that we can implement to benefit our constituents.”

This, after some members of the board earlier questioned the increase of the proposed annual budget to P12 billion from the 2019 appropriations of P4.6 billion.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia disclosed that the province expects by 2020 about P4.2 billion from the implementation of the Universal Health Care Law through the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

Citing 2018 data, PhileHealth reimbursed P475.8 million to Cebu provincial government. For this year, the state-run corporation has already reimbursed P370,043,979 with two more months left.

Aside from health programs, Garcia said that the provincial government will prioritize infrastructure projects especially the concreting of road networks.

For this year, at least P670 million has been appropriated for road concreting projects in four cities and 34 municipalities in the province.