Appropriations Act of 2011 labeled as ‘stagnation budget’

While Malacañang patted the backs of its allies in the Senate for approving the P1.645-trillion national budget almost intact and promptly, op-position sena-tors described the govern-ment appro-priations next year as a “stag-nation budget” which greatly scrimped on basic services.

The appa-rent skewed priorities of the very first general appropriations bill under the Aquino administration may not sit well with the rest of the Filipino people, Sen. Pia Cayetano said.

“It is unfortunate that the very first budget that looms to be approved under this new administration will be remembered by Filipinos for scrimping on allocations for public tertiary education and hospitals, as well as for agriculture and vital public infrastructure,” said Cayetano, who voted against the budget measure on third reading, along with minority leader Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

She also expressed serious reservations about allocating a huge chunk of taxpayers’ money to the controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program of the five-month-old Aquino administration.

“Although I support the concept of a subsidy program for the poor, the P21 billion alloted to the CCT is too large an amount to invest in an untested program,” she said.

Sen. Joker Arroyo said the measure, billed as “reform budget,” is a “stagnation budget, bereft of the tools for growth.”

“It is a prescription for stagnancy, an anti-growth budget. An example, the appropriation for public works and highways has been considerably reduced. That means that for 2011, there would be no appropriation for new and much needed roads or infrastructure which the country needs very badly for our development. Our network of roads, bridges and highways is antiquated, far behind our Asean neighbors. It prejudices our development and tourism,” he said.

Arroyo also noted the reduced appropriation for agriculture and other departments, yet pouring in huge portion in the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) because of the CCT program.

“I could go on but these examples are enough. The administration says it will not impose new taxes. But where will they get the monies to fund its programs? Through borrowings. The refuge of every administration,” he said.

Cayetano also cautioned Malacañang against the dire implications of its apparent policy to hold back budget increases for state universities and colleges (SUCs) and public tertiary hospitals, while forcing these institutions to generate revenues on their own.

“The Palace should be clear-cut and transparent in its long-term plans for public education and health. Forcing SUCs and government hospitals to be ‘self-sufficient,’ while at the same time freezing their budgets, may result in poor delivery of basic social services,” stressed Cayetano, who also chairs the Senate committee on health and demography.

“This policy direction may end up to be more anti-poor and anti-development than pro-poor and pro-development,” she warned.

Malacañang showed its overwhelming elation to the Senate mainly because of the P21-billion allocation for the controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT) not suffering any major cuts which most senators would have wanted but failed to achieve.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte conveyed hopes that the 2011 General Appropriations Act will already be signed by Aquino before the year closes.

She said they appreciated the way lawmakers have scrutinized Aquino’s proposed budget even if they reportedly decided to increase the budget for the state universities and colleges that is being demanded by various militant student organizations lately.

“From what I understand, senators have the discretion on that matter and we will just see if that will be its final form once the bicameral (proceedings) for Congress is concluded,” Valte told reporters.

“We are hoping that the passage of our (budget) reform bill will continue hopefully within this year. This will be one of the many firsts when it comes to the budgetary process, from what I recall, the last instance that the budget was passed before the start of the fiscal year happened a long time ago,” she added, nonetheless.

Valte, meanwhile, reiterated her attempts to assuage whatever doubts that the critical lawmakers continue to hold in their heads with respect to the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) absorptive capacity to handle the hefty P21-billion for the implementation of the CCT program.

She insisted that the DSWD led by its controversial chief, Secretary Corazon Soliman, has made sure that safeguards are well-established to make certain that no public funds will go to waste once the CCT program pushes through next year.

Valte mentioned that the officials of the DSWD carefully conduct an assessment of the list of the beneficiaries to make sure that these doleouts would go to those families who genuinely belong to poorest of the poor communities.

She further claimed that critics have nothing to worry about possible corruption that they said may spring from the DSWD’s reported plan to apportion P4-billion of the CCT budget for the hiring of employees that would monitor the beneficiaries of the program.

“What you have to understand is that because we wanted to expand the coverage of the CCT, we really need to employ more people that would go to the families to make sure that they receive the benefits and to monitor their progress. So we really need to avail of extra manpower and I don’t think that the current complement of the DSWD will be able to (shoulder that). The implementation of the program involves going to far-flung areas and really reaching out to these people. It’s not that we’re going to give it and then come what may. We are going to monitor the progress of the families that would serve as beneficiaries,” Valte explained.

The Senate approved on third and final reading on Wednesday night the 2011 national budget of P1.645 trillion without cut, including the P21 billion allocation for the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program and the controversial budget for the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs).

With 12-2 vote, the national budget for next year has been approved after a two-hour caucus where amendments have been introduced and set to be read into the record on Friday. –Angie M. Rosales with Aytch S. de la Cruz, Daily Tribune