THE Baguio City local government has a surplus of COVID-19 funds ready for use in case of emergencies, according to City Budget Officer Leticia Clemente.
Clemente said that over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city received some P633.92 million worth of funds for pandemic response, but only 525.77 million has been used by the city.
Of the total COVID-19 funds, P432.24 million came from supplemental budgets and the city itself, while the remainder of P164.12 million came from the national government.
From the locally-funded P432-odd million, Clemente said that some P362.97 million had already been utilized, and some appropriations totaling P42 million have yet to be fully used up for the programs and projects they were earmarked for.
From the national government’s funding of P164 million, some P154 million has already been used, while P10.1 million remains available.
The largest chunks of consumption of the available funding went to the job order personnel hired to aid with the pandemic response, as well as medical supplies.
P112.9 million went to the salaries of said job order personnel, with another P95.7 million spent on their food, P91.3 million spent on vaccines for COVID-19, and P80.5 million spent on various medical supplies utilized by the city.
