BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Funding for the construction and equipment needed for the local COVID testing center got the biggest chunk of the proposed P119 million list of projects proposed by the City Development Council to be funded through the Bayanihan Heal As One Act’s P275 billion crisis budget.
Bacolod Cong. Greg Gasataya, who attended the CDC meeting presided over by Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday, 21 April, told DNX the construction of the center was allocated P20 million while another P27 million will be spent for the purchase of reagents, protective gear and other needed requirements for the facility.
Gasataya had earlier joined the call of member-solons of the Nationalist People’s Coalition for an inclusive mass testing in the country as part of counter-COVID measures.
The lone district solon also called for transparency in the use of the Bayanihan funds as he stressed that money from the national government must be fully used on projects these are intended for.
Vice-Mayor El Cid Familiaran said the city council will discuss this afternoon of 22 April the CDC list of projects for the body’s approval.
The city development council is a body mandated by law to be formed in all towns and cities in the country that will, among other tasks, formulate long- to mid-term economic development plans and policies.
Its members include the mayor, the congressman, village chiefs, and sectoral representatives, among others.
