Arroyo left govt with only 10% of the 2010 budget, says Aquino

THE previous administration has spent most of the 2010 budget, leaving the government only 10 percent or about P100 billion to cover expenses for the next five months, President Benigno Aquino III said Friday.

“You will be surprised there is a big discrepancy between the budget that was left and the P1.54 trillion budget for this year,” the President said, noting that budget woes would be a major theme in his State of the Nation Address on Monday.

“The problems left a lot of us gasping for breath at what has been done. The questionable transactions and expenses were really without rhyme or reason. But the burden is now on us to fix this mess,” Aquino said.

On paper, the Arroyo administration left a budget of about P500 billion on paper.

“Unfortunately, not all of that is disposable funds because more than P300 billion is already earmarked for automatic appropriations, including congressional initiatives,” he said.

“So what is left is only a little over P100 billion, and that is not even 10 percent of the budget for this year,” Aquino added.

In a press conference at Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Aquino said he would uncover at least six “landmines” left by the previous administration, one of which was overspending, during his first policy address to the nation on Monday.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the Arroyo government spent P642.1 billion from January to June against programmed expenditures of P597.1 billion.

The overspending resulted in a deficit of P196.7 billion for the first half, which was P51.6 billion more than the programmed P145.2 billion shortfall.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said further “surprise” expenditures further depleted the available funds.

In his speech Friday, the President appealed to the military, especially units called to respond to disasters, to make do with what is left of the nearly-depleted calamity fund.

Aquino said with only less than 30 percent of the calamity fund left, and with several typhoons expected to hit the country until the end of the year, soldiers must rely on their “courage and strength of heart” to respond to disasters with the limited budget that they have.

“Our work will not be easy,” the President said, noting that most of the budget for the next several months had already been spent, even though the typhoon season has only begun.

He also said a large chunk of the calamity fund was spent on a congressional district apparently referring to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s district in Pampanga, that seemed to have been unaffected by powerful storms that hit the country last year.

Instead of asking Congress for a supplemental budget that would swell the deficit, Aquino said he would re-align about P1.5 billion earmarked as counterpart funds in an Arroyo administration program aimed at encouraging local governments to build roads, bridges and public hospitals.

“This program has been in existence since 2004. The bottom line is there are no takers for the fund, so it is now at about P1.5 billion. This can be tapped to augment the depleted calamity fund,” Aquino said.

Aquino said his team was working on the fourth edited version of his address, which has been pared down to fit the President’s 20-to 30-minute target.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said at least 70 percent of the speech will be in Filipino. –Joyce Pangco Pañares, Manila Standard Today