TACLOBAN CITY-The provincial of Leyte is currently implementing more than P4 billion for its economic development.
Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, in an interview with Leyte Samar Daily Express said that for this year, his office has the budget of P4,927,720,583.70 for economic services for the province.
The governor said that the said budget is 56 per cent of the Annual Investment Plan (AIP) of the province for this year which is P8,679,619,668.91 to fund programs and projects for the current fiscal year.
Petilla added that the 2019 AIP was approved in the third quarter of last year and will serve as the basis for the annual budget of the province for this year.
The reelected governor, who won a landslide vote last May 13 midterm elections for his third and last term, said that he will focus on poverty alleviation of the province giving more emphasis on countryside agricultural development and helping more of the fishermen and farmers especially in the hinterland villages of the province.
Petilla explained that countryside economic development program is given more emphasis by his administration as the basic and primary tool in solving problems on poverty, insurgency and criminality.
He added that his poverty alleviation program in the countryside is currently serving beneficiaries of more than 250 farmers/fishermen organizations in more than 250 villages in 40 towns and one city of the province.
The governor said that the target of his administration is to lower Leyte’s poverty incidence to just nine percent from the current 23.6 percent before he steps down in 2022.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)
