Government prepares for execution of P1.645-trillion budget for 2011

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration is now preparing for the execution of the P1.645 trillion budget for 2011, with the possibility of frontloading some of the spending in the early part of next year.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the department has been holding budget execution coordination meetings with six departments with key infrastructure projects or social protection programs to draw up a budget execution strategy.

These are Public Works, Transportation and Communication, Agriculture, Education, Health and Social Welfare and Development.

“The 2011 Reform Budget will be passed early, and it is just appropriate for us to implement this in a timely manner,” he said.

The strategy will set the premises, objectives and key policies in the implementation of the General Appropriations Act, he said.

“It will allow us to frontload and accelerate spending on critical programs and projects that foster economic growth and improve the lives of the poor,” he said.

The budget execution strategy will lay down the monthly schedule of cash requirements of the six departments.

These schedules, he said, intend to show not only the budgetary disbursements but also the outputs to be realized. He notes that these departments have a combined new programmed appropriation of roughly 46 percent of total new programmed appropriations for 2011.

The Budget department will also explore ways to accelerate allotments and issuance of cash to support the six departments’ implementation of their critical programs and projects.

For instance, he said the DepEd should be able to determine the schedule of classrooms to be built before the school year starts, and the DBM should be able to match the funding requirements needed for this to be realized.

“This mechanism also allows us to take a step towards output- and outcome-based budgeting. In other words, we do not want to just spend for the sake of spending. The Aquino government wants to hit the ground running in implementing its first financial blueprint at the very start of 2011. And it’s not just to take advantage of the good weather; for this government is committed to urgently address the development needs of Filipinos,” he said.