Nineteen (19) disadvantaged municipalities and barangays in Catanduanes will receive a total of P256 million from the Local Government Support Fund-Growth Equity Fund (LGSF-GEF) for the implementation of various development projects.
Seven (7) towns – Bagamanoc, Baras, Bato, Gigmoto, Pandan, Panganiban and San Miguel – will get P30 million each, as indicated in Local Budget Circular No. 166 issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) last Feb. 6, 2026.
Twelve (12) barangays in four towns have been allotted P3,900,169.00 each: Abihao, Danao, Guinsaanan, Putsan and Santa Maria in Baras; Dororian in Gigmoto; Cabuyoan in Panganiban; and Balatohan, J.M. Alberto, Paraiso, San Marcos and Tobrehon in San Miguel.
The P11.3-billion allocation for the fund in the 2026 General Appropriations Acr will provide P100 million to Batanes province, P75 million each to nine cities, P30 million each to 274 municipalities, and P3.9 million each to 591 barangays across the country.
Established in 2021, the financial assistance to the identified poor, disadvantaged, and lagging LGUs is intended to address unequal development and disparities in the fiscal capacities of LGUs, with the beneficiaries mostly falling under the 4th and 5th income classes.
Under Local Budget Circular No. 166 dated Feb. 6, 2026 issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), a recipient LGU can implement a maximum of two projects.
They can be in the form of roads, school buildings, Level III water systems, sanitation systems, health stations or rural health units, electrification, or food security including rice distribution.
Under the previous guidelines, the eligible projects are limited to water supply systems.
The recipient LGUs are likewise mandated to ensure that the designs of all proposed projects for the construction, concreting, rehabilitation, repair, improvement, expansion or upgrading of government buildings are in accordance with the prescribed design of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Food security projects, on the other hand, shall comply with the provisions of Republic Act 12314 or the Sagid Saka Act, the guidelines state.
In no case shall the LGSF-GEF be used for the construction of waiting sheds, purchase of road studs, attendance to study tours or seminars, conduct of capacity building activities, implementation of flood control projects, and for those projects already fully covered by other fund sources, it stressed.
Likewise, it cannot be utilized to pay for administrative and personnel services expenses.
In case of the completion of projects whose costs exceed the amount of the assistance from the national government, the beneficiary LGU shall provide counterpart funds and deposit the same in the trust fund for the LGSF-GEF.
This year’s financial assistance for Catanduanes LGUs is more than 13 times higher than the paltry P19 million received by just four LGUs in 2025.
Aside from the P13.33 million granted under the Support and Assistance Fund for Participatory Budgeting (SAFPB) to Panganiban town for the expansion and rehabilitation of the Level III Municipal Water System in barangay San Miguel, only three barangays received similar assistance: P2.5 million each to barangays San Pedro and Biong in Gigmoto under the Support to Barangay Development Program from NTF-ELCAC; and P1 million to Sicmil, also in Gigmoto, under the Growth Equity Fund (GEF).
According to DILG Catanduanes cluster head William Aldea, the water system project in Sicmil is already completed while the two other Gigmoto projects – the improvement of Level II water system in San Pedro and the rehabilitation of Farm-to-Market Road in Biong – are still ongoing as of last week.