Puerto Princesa City mayor Lucilo Bayron has asked the Sangguniang Panlungsod to allocate a P241 million supplemental budget for the conduct of the annual Subaraw Biodiversity Festival, the hosting of Ironman 70.3 triathlon in November, and other projects of the city government.
City budget officer Regina Cantillo said that of the requested amount, P8.6 million will be used for the operation of the Puerto Princesa Underground River, including P1 million for the Subaraw Biodiversity Festival.
“This will be used for the operation of PPUR, alam naman po natin na full blast na ngayon ang operation nila so kinakailangan ng funds for fuel and lubricants, for job order workers, and P1 million for the operation of Subaraw Festival in November, so the total proposed appropriation for the operation of PPUR is P8,653,615,” she said.
The construction of public comfort rooms, the improvement of the drainage system at the City Baywalk, and the rehabilitation of comfort rooms at the Sports Complex in preparation for the Ironman 70.3 race will also be funded by the supplemental budget.
“Other proposed budget is for the operation of city engineering, there is a proposal for the construction of public comfort rooms at PPC Baywalk amounting to P2,486,000, rehab of comfort rooms of city sports amounting to P1,850,000, improvement of drainage at PPC Baywalk of P1,620,000. These proposed projects are in line with the hosting of PPC of the Ironman in November,” the budget officer added.
Also allocated in the budget are infrastructure projects under the City Engineering Office and the procurement of heavy equipment to be stationed at the satellite city halls.
This is the third supplemental budget that the city government has requested for this year.
Cantillo said that the funds available were from the income of the PPUR and the surplus from the previous fiscal year.
“The source of the Supplemental Budget No. 3 came from proceeds/recedes from PPUR operations amounting to P8 million and the fiscal year 2021 surplus amounting to P233 million. A total of P241,746,615 is available for appropriations,” she added.