Bohol First District Rep. Rene L. Relampagos has said that the House of Representatives is scheduled to ratify the Bicameral Conference Report of the Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Finance Committee that reconciled the approved national budget for fiscal year 2014 as approved recently by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Joint Bicameral Conference Report will be presented for plenary approval either this Monday, December 16 or Tuesday, December 17. Relampagos said that with the eventual ratification of the Bicameral Conference Report, Bohol is assured of P1,272,788,000 for various road improvement projects including bridges in the three engineering districts of the Province of Bohol.

Of the P1.2 billion for Bohol, P790,511,000 is allocated for the first congressional district, P293,879,000 for the second congressional district, and P188,398,000.00 for the third congressional district. Relampagos said that the allocation for his district will be used for the road upgrading of the following road sections, to wit: Junction Maribojoc-Antequera-Catagbacan (Loon Road) – P26,071,000; Construction of Tagbilaran City Bypass road – P73,990,000; Antequera-San Isidro-Libertad (Tubigon Road) – P35,428,000; Balilihan-Hanopol-Batuan road – P15,030,000; Cortes-Balilihan-Catigbian-Macaas road – P14,700,000; The Panglao Island Circumferential Road – P372,000,000; The Dauis-Panglao Central Island road – P100,000,000; The Baclayon-Corella road leading to the Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary – P130,000,000; and The Reconstruction of Sombria Bridge in Manga Tagbilaran City in the amount of P21,780,000.

Relampagos thanked the leadership of Congress as well as Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and the DPWH through Sec. Rogelio Singson for the continuous support given to his district in upgrading and improving (concreting) various national and local roads leading to tourism destinations in his district. The lawmaker said that this huge allocation will definitely spur a lot of economic activities in the province to include creation of much needed jobs for the people. He added that the said amount is from the DPWH alone. This does not include other appropriations allocated for the Province of Bohol from other national line agencies like the Department of Agriculture, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Transportation and Communication, the Department of Tourism and the like. This is also on top of the 5 billion pesos already committed by President Aquino for the rehabilitation plan for the Province of Bohol.

When asked as to whether there is no more pork barrel in the 2014 budget, Relampagos said that the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF has been deleted in the 2014 budget. Despite the abolition of PDAF, Relampagos said that as a member of Congress which is tasked to approve the budget, he can still work for the inclusion of funding priority projects and programs in his district in the different national line agencies. “Only this time around, I have to work doubly hard for it will have to be done in accordance with the budgeting process and thus, you have to work more closely with the secretaries of the different line agencies as they prepare their respective proposed budgets for submission and approval by Congress. Likewise, constant consultations with the different LGUs of their priority projects are needed. With this, it will guarantee that there will be continuous development in my district and our vision for attaining more progress will be realized,” he said. (by Jill Christianae R. Robinson)