Abstract:
National leadership over the past three decades has recognized regional development as an important policy thrust and strategy for national development. Hence, regional allocation becomes an integral part in the national government budgeting system, which is aimed for greater efficiency and effectiveness. The practice of regional budgeting in the Philippines has started during the Marcos administration. Aquino government pursued a top-down bottom-up approach in the budgeting process. Ramos government continued the same approach but with less fervor. Regional development can become an approach to attain the goal of the national government given efficient resource utilization. To this end, this paper assesses regional budget allocation in terms of process and responsiveness to the diverse regional social/economic conditions. Policy recommendations ensue.