DBM disputes P300-B 'insertions' in proposed national budget

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) disputed yesterday allegations that the proposed P2-trillion national budget was riddled with vague and hidden provisions that could be sources of abuse and corruption.

DBM officials were commenting on the report of the Social Watch Philippines (SWP) and the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) that almost P300 billion in “hidden” and “unfamiliar” allocations were inserted in the proposed outlay for next year.

The NGOs identified, among others, the Retirement Benefits Fund (RBF), the Priority Social and Economic Projects Fund (PSEPF), the P44-billion Budgetary Support to Government Corporations (Regular); the P16.8-billion Budgetary Support to GOCCs under the Unprogrammed Fund, the P60.9-billion Debt Management Program under the Unprogrammed Fund; and the P117.5-billion Unprogrammed Fund, as suspicious provisions.

“Consistent with President Aquino’s agenda for transparent, accountable and participatory governance, the DBM has strived to publish each and every possible detail on government spending in its official budget documents and its official website (dbm.gov.ph),” the DBM said in a statement.

The DBM said it had also launched the BudgetNgBayan.com advocacy website to help citizens understand the annual national budgets and the budget process in an illustrative and interactive way.

“The DBM is likewise committed to work with civil society organizations, the private sector and other citizen’s groups to co-advocate reforms for transparency, accountability and participation in the budget process” read the statement.

SWP and ABI are among its private partners in reform programs, the DBM added.

The DBM said the RBF for 2013 is the representation of the total amount of benefits appropriated for civilian and uniformed personnel.

“Of this amount, pensions of uniformed personnel – which have previously been tucked into their respective agencies’ budgets – account for P64.16 billion,” read the statement.

“The aggregation of pensions for uniformed personnel into the RBF was a reform policy-decision instituted by the DBM in budget preparation. This will ensure that funds for retirement benefits will go directly to the proper beneficiaries, and avoid exposing the funds to corruption in the hands of a few unscrupulous parties.”

The DBM said the PSEPF contains allocations for critical development projects that agencies proposed but have not yet been able to flesh out in detail. These have been adopted in the Budget, but segregated under a Special Purpose Fund, in line with the policy against lump sum funds in agency budgets.

Once the agencies flesh out these projects, these will be submitted to Congress as amendments, DBM added.

The DBM said the BSGC item pertains to the regular subsidies and equities provided by the national government to GOCCs, while the separate entry on budgetary support to GOCC is provided for to cover the national government advances for debt servicing of principal and interest as well as interest advances made by the Treasury for loan obligations of GOCCs has been converted to subsidy.

Unprogrammed appropriations are allocations which provide standby authority to incur additional agency obligations for priority programs or projects when revenue collections exceeds targets; new sources of revenues are generated, and additional foreign funds, in the form of loans, are generated, the DBM added.