DBM to realign P5-P6 billion from slow-moving agencies

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is ready to realign an initial P5 billion to P6 billion in unspent funds from slow-moving state agencies for new and faster moving projects as part of efforts to boost spending.

Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad also said there are a lot of “faster moving” projects in the pipeline, which the Aquino administration has lined up to prop up spending.

“Some of the agencies are able to utilize their allotments but some are not and we may recall these allotments,” Abad told The STAR over the weekend.

He said that initially, there is already a project for tourism roads that would require P5 to P6 billion, to be implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which may come from the realignment plan.

Abad said this is among the strategies to be employed by the agency to make up for lackluster spending last year.

Slow moving agencies have until June 30 to disburse their allotments, he said.

The slow moving agencies such as the Departments of Health, Education and Agriculture are also being assessed. “We are trying to determine where the bottlenecks are,” he said.

Another strategy is to boost loans to public school teachers, Abad said. He said the Budget Department is working with the Education Department and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the state-owned pension fund for state workers, to be able to grant more loans to public school teachers.

But former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said realigning funds is wrong. He said what the government should do is to ask the heads of slow moving agencies to step down if they cannot fulfill their spending obligations.