LUCENA CITY – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Quezon, sitting as a committee-as-a-whole on Thursday, has approved the 2027 provincial government proposed annual budget worth P7.4 billion.
SP members led by 2nd District Board Member Keith Mikhal ‘Dok Kim’ Tan, acting as vice governor and SP Presiding Officer, has unanimously passed the landmark legislative measure that would spell out the spending plan proposed by the various provincial government offices aligned with the HEALING agenda under the administration of Gov. Helen Tan who is on official leave.
Acting Vice Gov. Dok Kim Tan said the approval of 2027 proposed annual budget of the provincial government was the culmination of a 3-day continuous budget deliberations covering all the various department agencies of the provincial government.
Present last Thursday at the SP budget hearing were acting governor Third Alcala, board members Sam Nantes of the 1st District, Vinnette Alcala of the 2nd Dist.; John Joseph Aquivido and Margarita Victoria Esguerra of the 3rd Dist.; Harold Butardo and Angelo Eduarte of the 4th Dist., Jackelyn Delimos, provincial youth federation president; and Sundae Alvarez, provincial League of Barangay Captain president.
“We are working on a budgetary constraints at medyo tinitipid pa rin po natin ang mga offices at although may malalaki silang proposal we are working for this budget na meron tayo na projected ng local finance committee,” said acting vice gov. Tan in a brief interview with a handful of local media after the budget hearing.
He said that the SP budget hearing tackled the challenges in implementation of each proposed budget of the various offices of the provincial government, on how they would be translated to effective services for the benefit of the people of the province.
He noted that although the proposed Annual Investment Plan for 2027 amounted to P9 billion, it got whittled down to the actual proposed budget of over P7 billion along with the P1.4 billion for Economic Enterprise Unit.
It was shown on the LED TV screen during the last day of the budget hearing and deliberation that the proposed general fund for next year is P7,496,540,115 and the Economic Enterprise is P1,458,616,414.
On Thursday, provincial government chief of staff Rose Ann Verzo and executive assistant John Luzano explained to the board members the proposed 2027 budget of the Provincial Governor’s Office (PGO) worth P1,306,630,551 and its various programs and projects such as in education, livelihood and good governance.
Acting vice gov. Tan said that many of the projects that were previously lodged in the PGO were now distributed to other provincial government offices such as sustainable livelihood projects which now include the creation of the new cooperative office and various social services that are institutionalized and legislated thru provincial ordinance.
He also said that the biggest slice of the 2027 budget pie goes to the Provincial Health Office and the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office as these are the 2 provincial government offices that Quezonians seek most for their immediate needs.
He said the PHO takes the biggest slice of the provincial government budget as there are 15 provincial government hospitals that cater to the health care needs of the Quezonians which include hospitalization assistance, no balance-billing in Quezon Medical Center, free medicines, among others.
Asked about the budgetary concerns of Board Member Thelma Aumentado, SP representative of the various Indigenous Communities in the entire province, Tan disclosed that the provincial government has allotted P10 million for 2027 for the Indigenous People of the province along with P7 million other programs for a total of P17 million IP-dedicated projects for next year.
BM Aumentado was not in the SP budget hearing as she was spearheading the 1st Quezon Provincial Indigenous People’s Day Celebration at the Quezon Convention Center which was attended by hundreds of her IP constituencies in Real, Infanta, Gen. Nakar, Mauban, Atimonan, Lopez, Tayabas and Lucena city.
She has expressed dismay about her MOOE (Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses) budgetary allocation in her office saying she is not getting her equal budget share like her other SP colleagues as mandated by the Local Government Code.
Tan however said that due to budgetary constraints and since the provincial government has only started to have an IP representative in SP in 2025, Aumentado’s budget allocation is given in tranches.