SP approves P1.5B
budget for Neg. Occ.
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The proposed P1,573,494,771 budget of Negros Occidental for 2010 was slashed by P10 million by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan yesterday  after they reduced travel allowances of each  department of the provincial government  by 40 percent.

Although the approved budget for Negros Occidental for 2010  was reduced to P1,563,951,291, it still posted an increase of P186 million, compared to the 2009 budget of P1.3 billion, SP records show.

Board Member Raul Rivera, SP Finance Committee chairperson, yesterday said the reduction of travel expenses was the consensus of all SP members who thoroughly scrutinized the proposed budget of each department of the  provincial government.

A Bacolod businessman’s wife waited for him at the Bacolod-Silay Airport Tuesday afternoon but he did not get off the plane.

Leda Ang did not know that her husband Remegio Ang, 65, who had called that he was coming home on a 2 p.m. flight had been killed when his car exploded two hours earlier in Taguig City.

Ang, owner of Five Stars Lumber and Hardware Corp. in Barangay Tangub, Bacolod City, was about to enter the parking area of a condominium building where he owned a unit in Taguig City when his black Honda Civic exploded at 12:15  p.m. Tuesday.

The Negros Occidental provincial government was named best performing province in Western Visayas and bagged five other special awards during the 2009 Excellence in Local Governance awarding ceremony held in Iloilo City, Tuesday, Gov. Isidro Zayco said yesterday.

This is the second time during his term as governor that the province has received these awards, which was achieved with the support of the province’s officials, department heads and employees, Zayco said.

The province was champion for excellence in administrative governance, excellence in economic development, excellence in environmental management, and excellence in local legislation, and first runner-up for excellence in social services.