DENR execs attend 5-day ‘reprogramming’ workshop in Iloilo City

DENR-6 regional director Jim O. Sampulna stressed that the activity would strengthen and realign their programs and projects to the mission of DENR and direction of President Rodrigo Duterte. (Photo: Department of Environment & Natural Resources/ Facebook)

ILOILO CITY— The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) aims to further strengthen its programs and projects in 2018 as regional directors across the country gather here for a workshop.

DENR-Western Visayas is hosting the five-day workshop in this city attended by the department’s regional directors across the country, including planning officers, finance officers, among others, to craft activities for next year. The workshop will end on Saturday.

In an interview Thursday, DENR-6 regional director Jim O. Sampulna stressed that the activity would strengthen and realign their programs and projects to the mission of DENR and direction of President Rodrigo Duterte.

DENR’s proposed budget for next year amounts to PHP27.1 billion, bigger than this year’s allocation of PHP26.6 billion. The Congress already approved the proposed 2018 budget of the agency last September.
“We are assuming that the proposal is already approved though we are awaiting for the President to sign it so we are reprogramming our activities in line with the direction of our President and Secretary (Roy Cimatu),” he said.

Initially, Sampulna said that they have segregated the budget intended for priority programs and projects of the President like National Greening Program (NGP), forest protection, among others.

“More or less, we have the same activities but we are strengthening them,” he said.

Sampulna added that they have also tackled the foreign-assisted projects they are expecting to be implemented in the different regions in the country.

Once the President signed the budget, Sampulna assured that all the plans crafted during the reprogramming activity here will be implemented.

The National Reprogramming Workshop is an annual event of the DENR to talk about its programs and projects, including the allocation of its annual budget.

Sampulna said that their hosting is a “beautiful development” as the region is among the active implementers of the programs and projects of the agency.