The Caloocan City government has set aside P600 million to fund its peace and order campaign this year.
The budget was approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod, headed by Vice Mayor Macario E. Asistio III.
Several officials and employees of the Sanggunian said this shows Asistio supports Mayor Oscar G. Malapitan’s projects, even if they belong to different political parties.
Of the amount, P200 million was given to the Peace and Order Council alone, which is being chaired by Malapitan.
A document that the BusinessMirror got from the Sangguniang Panlungsod showed that the budget was approved as “lump sum” by the city’s legislative body. This means the measure did not identify the projects that will be funded by the P200-million budget.
According to Nolan B. Sison, officer in charge of the city government’s Public Information Office, peace and order is one of the “pillars” that Malapitan outlined in managing the city government since 2013.
The five others are education, health, investments and jobs, infrastructure projects and good governance.
Sison said P600 million is a “small” amount because it is only 10 percent of the P6-billion annual budget of the city government.
The P200 million is only 3 percent of the total, he noted.
He asserted that the important thing is the budget would really translate to improved peace and order situation in the city. This will then lead to economic growth and good financial standing because businessmen and real-property owners will pay their taxes properly and correctly.
In 2014 Caloocan became part of the most competitive cities in the country as previously reported by the BusinessMirror.
This newspaper had also reported that Caloocan City has around 2,000 new businessmen seeking business permits annually since 2015.
The procedure that the POC is following, according to Sison, is that Malapitan recommends to the Sangguniang Panlungsod how the P200 million will be spent. The city council will then approve the necessary measures.
With this, everything will be in order, Rommel M. Dario, chief of staff of Second District Coun. Edgardo N. Aurello, told the Business Mirror.