Palace submits ‘results-oriented, transparent’ budget

It is now up to Congress to make the next move on the national budget.

This, after Malacanang broke tradition by submitting the proposed P1.816-trillion budget to Congress a month early to give lawmakers enough time to scrutinize the measure.

The Palace hopes the President can sign the measure into law before Christmas.

“In more than a decade this is the first time we’re submitting it this early. This gives Congress more time to deliberate on the budget and we’re hoping, if they finish deliberating before Christmas, the President should be able to sign the budget before Christmas,” Budget Secretary Butch Abad said on ANC’s “The Rundown.”

If passed on schedule, Abad said allotments can be made by January instead of the usual three months from the time the budget is approved by the President. And to save on time, Abad said they have instructed all government agencies to prepare their list of projects and bidding documents, to get projects started at the soonest time possible.

Dividing the budget

Abad earlier said the government is “putting its money where its mouth is” when it comes to the budget.

He identified five budget priorities corresponding to President Aquino’s 16-point social contract with the Filipino people: 1) anti-corruption, transparent and accountable and participatory governance; 2) poverty reduction and the empowerment of the poor; 3) rapid, equitable and sustainable economic growth; 4) just and lasting peace, and the rule of law; 5) integrity of the environment and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The proposed P1.816-trillion peso budget submitted by the President for 2012 is 10.4% higher than this year’s P1.645 trillion budget.

Education has the highest allocation with P238.8 billion. The Department of Public Works and Highways comes next with P125.5 billion, followed by the Department of National Defense with P107.9 billion.

The health department will get P44 billion.

Deficit spending is pegged at 3% of gross domestic product, but Abad said this will go down to 2.86% next year.

President Aquino said the budget is “results-oriented” and embodies his administration’s commitment to address poverty.

“We should’ve finished rehabilitating arterial roads by end of 2014. By the end of 2016, 92% of secondary roads would’ve been paved, and by the end of 2015 all bridges would’ve been built,” Abad said.

The budget chief said DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson was able to bring down the indirect cost of production of DPWH projects from 40% to 22%, saving 18% of total project costs. He said Singson also brought down the cost of supervision to 3.5%.

At least P1.5 billion of the budget will go to rehabilitating district and provincial hospitals.

But Abad admitted fiscal limitations make it impossible to plug the gaps, adding they are looking at tapping the private sector to help out when the next budget comes around.

PPPs

Abad said Private-Public Partnership (PPP) projects have been held up by illegal ownership issues, like right of way acquisition or technical problems. He said the first PPP will be announced soon.

The government was supposed to bid out 10 projects this year, but it said it may only bid out five, as feasibility studies were taking longer than expected.

Government has earmarked P22.1 billion of next year’s budget for investments in public private partnerships (PPP). The DBM said the amount would cover right of way purchases, land development and other facilities.

Meantime, Abad noted government will invest heavily in tourism, agriculture and fisheries, and infrastructure development.

He revealed plans for the construction of six international airports including one in Bohol and another in Palawan.

“We have to develop strong capacity to do cost benefit and financial feasibility studies. Every agency is provided budget for project development.”

“We are converting debts, are able to lengthen maturities so they don’t bunch up. We’re able to lower interest rates because of credit upgrades. Just from saving on interest rates, this year we should be able to save P23 billion to fund a big chunk of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.”

Review on intelligence funds

Amid criticism for programs that take longer than expected, Abad said it cannot be faulted for making the budget and budget spending more transparent.

It is doing this by requiring government agencies to submit a list of projects. He noted there is a limited menu for allocations, narrowed down to correspond to the President’s priorities.

“This budget is very transparent. It’s filed on time, bidded on time, passed on time. This is not a reenacted budget, there is no lumpsum.”

In the wake of allegations on the misuse of PCSO funds, Abad added government has also reviewed allocations for intelligence funds.

“This time hindi pwedeng certification lang. You really have to submit to the Office of the President details of the expenditure to the intel operations.”

“We limited the agencies that will be given intel funds, strictly speaking, to intelligence agencies like the military and police and certain agencies that require it (PDEA, anti-trafficking, DOJ, DENR). It can’t be used for personal services, capital outlay, it can only be used for MOE (reward informers).”

Abad said various measures include identifying the project, place and amount. He added they are digitizing operations so money is not touched frequently by human hands.

He said they have invited civil society organizations to do Bantay Lansangan, Budget Watch, and this year involved CSO’s in the biggest departments in the three biggest GOCCs,

The budget chief said they have invited civil society groups to do a “budget watch” on some government agencies. He said the proposed budget also increased allocations for the Justice Department and its Witness Protection Program.

Abad said the government is fighting corruption by promoting transparency, and they are doing it on two fronts.

“There are two ways: curative, pursuing symbolic cases of corruption that need closure, the other one is preventive, there is transparency. All transactions are uploaded in websites.”

He added the budget as well as allocations to both houses of Congress is open to scrutiny and Filipinos can simply check the websites of government agencies. Senators each receive P200 million while congressmen each receive P70 million in yearly allocations. –Caroline Howard, ANC