Govs ask Senate to restore P5-B Kilos Asenso, P3-B Barangay Kalayaan Funds

LPP President Gov. Erico Aumentado of Bohol shares to the governors the letter he wrote to Sen. Manuel Villar, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee relative to the request of the LGUs to restore the P5-B Kilos Asenso Fund and the P3-B Barangay Kalayaan Fund, which the members of the Senate decided to scrap from the 2006 GAA upon the alleged prodding of Senate President Franklin Drilon, brought about by the widening rift between Pres. Arroyo and the Senate.

IN A bid to save the P5-billion Kilos Asenso and the P3-B Barangay Kalayaan Development Fund for insurgency-affected areas around the country, the LPP approved in mass motion a resolution asking the members of the Senate not to scrap the said funds from the General Appropriations Act of 2006.

The resolution came in the heels of a letter Gov. Erico B. Aumentado, in his capacity as national president of the league and the ULAP, asking the senators to restore the Kilos Asenso and Barangay Kalayaan Fund, which the House of Representatives already gave their nod to.

The LPP, represented by Gov. Rosette Y. Lerias of Southern Leyte and Gov. Ben P. Evardone of Eastern Samar, acoompanied by other LGU leaders representing ULAP met with Sen. Villar on May 30 to personally hand to him a copy of the resolution approved in a special meeting last May 26.

The league took a stand against the “the unfair and erroneous view that the Kilos Asenso Support Fund and the Barangay Kalayaan Development Fund are pork barrel of the Executive Department and the Local Chief Executives,” citing four reasons why this is not so.

The P5-B Kilos Asenso Fund, Aumentado explained is the national government’s counterpart to the P5-B which the LGUs are also putting up, through their combined 20% Development Funds, for developmental projects such as water, power, farm-to-market roads, small irrigation projects, housing, livelihood, job generation, health and sanitation, reforestation, sanitary landfill and school buildings.

Even before an LGU can avail of the funds, the concerned City or Municipal Development Councils will have to approve the project proposals, and the same, in turn, will have to be reviewed and approved by the concerned Provincial Development Councils.

Following the approval of the proposals, the concerned Regional Development Councils will monitor the implementation of the projects, and as such, shall put in place a system for the purpose.

On the other hand, Aumentado explained that with respect to the Barangay Kalayaan Development Fund, the same is needed to sustain the military’s and LGUs’ development thrusts in conflict areas;

“The Barangay Kalayaan Development fund can play a vital role in the fight against insurgency since the fund, if properly harnessed, can improve the quality of life of the people in conflict areas which is a sure-fire formula to win back the insurgents’ mass base to the fold of the government,” he said.

Villar, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said he was doubtful that the members of the upper chamber would reconsider its decision to reinstate the Kilos Asenso and the Barangay Development Funds, but he assured the local leaders, that this can still be tackled in the bicameral conference committee on the GAA 2006. (ANGELICA J. SANCHEZ)

LPP’s Special Meeting on Kilos Asenso held on May 26, 2006 at the Discovery Suites. (From L-R) Gov. George Arnaiz (Oriental Negros), Gov. Aurora Cerilles (Zamboanga del Sur), Gov. Benjamin Loong (Sulu), Gov. Ben Evardone (Eastern Samar), Gov. Tet Garcia (Bataan), Gov. Perpetuo Ylagan (Romblon), Gov. Datu Pax Mangudadatu (Sultan Kudarat), Gov. Pedro Romualdo (Camiguin) and Gov. Leandro Verceles, Jr. (Catanduanes).

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