Aurora ecozone's budget cut by P807 million

CASIGURAN, Aurora , Philippines  – The fledgling Aurora Special Economic Zone Authority’s proposed budget for 2010 has been mangled by the Department of Budget and Management which slashed a whopping P807 million.

Vitaliano Sabalo, ASEZA acting deputy administrator, confirmed to The STAR the cuts which brought down the authority’s budget to a measly P30 million from the proposed budget proposal of P837.345 million.

Sabalo said Sen. Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate finance committee, is lobbying to have the original budget proposal restored since 2010 is crucial for ASEZA because it will formally start commercial operations.

Documents obtained by The STAR showed that ASEZA submitted to the DBM a proposal of P837.3 million broken down into P137.3 million for personal services and maintenance and operating expenses and P700 million for capital outlay. The P837 million proposal was submitted by then-OIC administrator Maria Angelica Maristela.

ASEZA’s budget proposal for 2008 was P678 million of which P600 million was for capital outlay alone.

ASEZA corporate accountant Candelario Garcia told The STAR that the P30 million provided by the DBM’s finance division represents a staggering 96.4 percent decrease from the P837 million proposed budget.

He said ASEZA has originally sought a P1.137 billion budget which was later scaled down to P837 million. This was later brought down to P500 million and the MOEE was later reduced to only P30 million.