CPDO waiting for barangay AIP proposals

CEBU, Philippines - The officials of the Cebu City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) are surprised why many of the city’s 80 barangays have not applied to avail of projects to be funded by the Annual Investment Plan (AIP) which may help in the improvement of their barangays.

Assistant CPDO head Oscar Abordo said some barangay officials explained that they do not know how to prepare their project proposal to be submitted to City Hall that is why their barangays are not applying for projects to be funded by AIP.

Abordo assured the barangay officials that CPDO personnel are very willing to assist and teach them how to prepare their documents so they can avail of the projects funded by the AIP on top of the projects funded by the Local Development Fund (LDF) and from the city’s barangay assistance.

Section 287 of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1990 provides that local government units should allocate in its annual budget not less than 20 percent of its Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) every year intended for development projects.

“Gamay ra hinoon ni ang project nga magastohan sa AIP kay magbasi ra man kini sa IRA nga madawat sa local government unit,” Abordo explained in yesterday’s press briefing. IRA is the share of local government units from the tax collections of the national government.

Although some barangay officials claimed no knowledge that they can avail of AIP funds that can be availed by the barangays, Abordo said his office have records to prove that they called and informed the barangays about it. He further revealed that their records reflect who answered their call.

Abordo said while the deadline had already lapsed, his office may still give another week for barangay officials to submit their project proposals so that they can be included in the AIP projects for 2014. –/MIT (FREEMAN)