The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Luis Leoncio
The P3.002-trillion national appropriations for 2016, the last of the Aquino administration, which Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has described as a “legacy” budget, is nothing but an election budget loaded with lump-sum appropriations and pork, according to Social Watch Philippines (SWP).
The budget watchdog, headed by former National Treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, urged the media and civil-society organizations to monitor the implementation of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) to make sure it is not used for partisan political purposes.
The budget, signed into law by President Aquino on Dec. 22, revived the pork-barrel system and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) that the Supreme Court (SC) had both declared unconstitutional, according to SWP.
Briones, now a University of the Philippines professor, said that, just like the 2015 GAA, the 2016 budget reinforced the redefinition of savings and authorized the transfer of “DAP-like funds” already struck down by the SC.
In signing the 2016 GAA, Mr. Aquino even proudly recalled that, for six straight years, his administration passed the annual budget well before their deadlines.
Briones noted that, while the National Expenditure Program (NEP) that itemized the GAA totaled P3.002 trillion, more than P930 billion was listed in “automatic appropriations,” while the Special Purpose Funds totaled P408 billion and the Unprogrammed Funds totaled P67.5 billion.
Automatic appropriations, as the label suggests, can be automatically allotted to debt servicing without the need for congressional approval. Special purpose funds and unprogrammed funds are under the discretion of the Office of the President.
“As in previous election years, small infrastructure projects were embedded in the 2016 budget and were specifically identifi ed by legislators during the preparation phase of the budget that amount to huge sums worth of public works,” Briones said.
“Additional insertions were introduced by both houses of Congress and the Bicameral Conference Committee. Concrete examples are farm-to-market roads that are identifi ed with legislators who claimed credit for them during election sorties.”
The budget items with revisions and budgetary adjustments that Briones cited included:
• A P326-million increase for farm-to-market road projects under the Department of Agriculture (P7.377 billion from P7.051 billion in the NEP).
• A P987.930-million increase for Assistance to Indigent Patients under the Department of Health-Office of the Secretary (P2.783 billion from P1.795 billion in the NEP).
• A P2.54-billion increase for Government Internship Program and Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating is advantaged Workers Project under the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-Office of the secretary (P3.267 billion from P727.3 billion in the NEP).
• A P403-million increase for the Training for Work Scholarship Program under the DOLE-Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) (P2.206 billion from P2.203 billion in the NEP).
• A P1.248-billion increase for Local Infrastructure Program under the Department of Public Works and Highways-Office of the Secretary (P19.813 billion from P18.566 billion in the NEP).
• A P5.382-billion increase for the Protective Services Program under the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Office of Secretary (P6.698 billion from P1.315 billion in the NEP).
• A P144-million increase for Tulong Dunong Program under the Commission on Higher Education (P1.13 billion from P986.231 million in the NEP).
• A P662.538-million increase for fi nancial assistance to LGUs under the Local Government Support Fund in the Allocation to Local Government Units (P862.538 million from P200 million in the NEP).
“Earlier, Social Watch estimated that around P33.2 billion went to PDAF-like funds distributed across five agencies. Estimates from other groups are more or less similar to what we have arrived at,” Briones said.
A SWP statement said transparency is the hallmark of accountable budgeting, but the practice now is for legislators to send instructions to agencies just by text or telephone calls.
“This is true for health assistance, employment and cash doles. This trend further muddles the flow of information to the public, especially since there is no paper trail,” it added.
SWP also called for more details on the 27 amendments from the Bicameral Committee that are subject to “conditional implementation.”
“The Constitution does not provide for conditional implementation,” SWP said.
“The proposed General Appropriations Act can either be approved in full or its particular line items be vetoed by the President.”
SWP added: “We are reiterating our observation that the 2016 budget will benefit the political objectives of the present administration as well as the incoming officials.
This is due to the redefinition of savings, which is provided for in the general provisions of the GAA. The provisions of the 2016 budget can easily be changed and transferred; projects can be stopped; new projects can be initiated because of the redefi nition.”
But Abad said the budget was a product of good governance under Mr. Aquino. He said that, because of good governance, the government expects to double its revenue collections this year from the P1.1 trillion generated when Mr. Aquino assumed offi ce in June 2010, to P2.7 trillion.
Abad said the government was able to collect higher revenues without raising or introducing new taxes except for the sin tax, which aims to lower the number of people who patronize alcoholic drinks and tobacco products.
He also said the budget allotted for debt services has signifi cantly decreased during the Aquino administration.
In 2005, or the government allocated 31.8 percent of the annual budget to debt service, while in the proposed 2016 national budget, it signifi cantly went down to 13.97 percent, Abad noted.