TACLOBAN CITY – Eastern Visayas has started preparing the 2023 budget proposal utilizing the Regional Development Council (RDC) review drive, a cloud-based repository of budget proposals from the different agencies.
National Economic and Development Authority Regional Director Bonifacio Uy said Monday RDC members have been oriented on the budget preparation and review process, highlighting the newly approved RDC Eastern Visayas budget guidelines for next year.
“These particular guidelines now spell-out the various steps that needs to be complied with for an effective budget review of proposals. Particularly, these guidelines adopt prioritization criteria for the ranking of projects proposed by agencies and state universities and colleges,” Uy said in a phone interview.
Similar to last year, the 2023 budget review will use the online RDC budget review drive, which is open to the public and can be viewed and commented on by stakeholders at the national, regional and local level to ensure transparency and inclusivity of priority proposals.
The upgraded budget drive was introduced to improve ease of use of the online review facility. It will also allow government entities and regional stakeholders to easily submit, facilitate, review and store documentation of the budget preparation, in real time.
“We hope that through this tool, it will enable us to submit budget proposals that are responsive and will lead to higher socioeconomic growth for the region for 2023 and onward,” Uy said.
Under the 2023 budget calendar issued by the Department of Budget and Management, budget preparation consultations will be held in February, encoding of submission of budget proposals is between February 1 to April 15, while the deadline for the online submission of budget proposal is on May 31.
Executive Order 325 issued in 1996 mandates the RDC to review the annual budget proposals of government agencies to ensure that they address the strategic development needs and priorities of the region. (PNA)