BORONGAN CITY (PIA) -- The provincial government of Eastern Samar through the leadership of Gov. Ben P. Evardone has laid out plans of the programs and projects for the next three years during the Executive and Legislative Agenda (ELA) Formulation on August 8-13, at Twin Lakes Hotel, Tagaytay City.
In his message during the said ELA, Gov. Evardone emphasized the partnership with the private sector in generating supplementary funding assistance for the province’s programs and projects in the next three years.
“We should tap and harness our partnership with the private sector to assist us and make them involved with our end goals,” Gov. Evardone said.
He added that ELA outlined the major development thrusts of the executive and legislative branches of the local government which shall ensure leadership direction in the next three years.
The governor further said that the direction of the province was not far away from his first term as its leader, in which he started already with the programs and projects to serve the poorest of the poor, reaching out to geographically isolated barangays.
“What I will focus on in my second term administration is to mobilize the resources not only from the government,” Gov. Ben added.
“Because of the crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic, our tax collection of the national government is very low, that’s why the National Tax Allotment (NTA) of the Local Government Units (LGUs) was also affected,” Gov. Evardone disclosed.
In line with this, the NTA for Eastern Samar for next year will be lessened by P300-M, this will take effect in the 2023 budget.
“You can just imagine the P300-M will be deducted from NTA, this is a big amount. More medicines to be bought and many roads to be constructed,” Evardone said.
The governor said he will tap his friends from the private sector, business community, funding agencies and even non-government organizations (NGOs) to help raise funds for the priority programs and projects of the province.
“Through the ELA seminar/workshop, the province can make comprehensive programs and projects within the next three years,” Gov. Evardone concluded. (MMP/SDC/PIA Eastern Samar)
