House opens hearings on P2-T 2013 budget

MANILA, Philippines - The House committee on appropriations opens public hearings today on President Aquino’s proposed P2-trillion national budget for next year.

Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, committee chairman, said yesterday the initial hearing would focus on the general macro-economic principles Malacañang used in putting together its 2013 budget proposal.

He said the administration’s economic managers, including Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, have been invited to brief his committee on the budget’s parameters.

Also invited was Gov. Amando Tetangco of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“We expect the hearings to run for one month. Hopefully, we can start plenary debates on the budget in September,” Abaya said.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has assured the President that like in 2011, Congress would approve the 2013 budget before the end of the year so that funds would be released as early as January.

On the eve of the budget hearings, opposition congressmen vowed to scrutinize the proposed P44.3-billion appropriation for the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, which grants a monthly allowance of P500 to P1,200 to the “poorest of the poor” households.

Speaking for his colleagues, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano Sr. said they would ask Secretary Corazon Soliman of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) why there were unqualified beneficiaries as discovered by the Commission on Audit (COA).

“Secretary Soliman has a lot of explaining to do about these irregularities since she has P1.4 billion this year alone for training field personnel on the evaluation and selection of qualified households and the monitoring of the program,” he said.

He said the huge annual CCT budget allots funds not only for the cash grants but also for the operational expenses of the CCT program staff.

Albano cited COA’s findings that up to 206,000 families of the three million households receiving monthly allowances this year are not qualified.

He said the government is wasting hundreds of millions, if not billions, for these unqualified beneficiaries.