‘Budget lump sums to be itemized’

MANILA, Philippines — Vague items and lump sum provisions in the proposed P5.268-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2023 will be presented in detail before Congress passes the budget measure, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said yesterday.

Zubiri gave the assurance to the Senate minority bloc and other lawmakers who have been calling for the realignment of lump sum provisions in the GAB, or huge allocations that are vague or lacking in details, to urgent programs on food security, disaster prevention and controlling inflation.

He said Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the finance committee, has assured him that the lump sums would be itemized by the time the Senate and the House of Representatives pass the final version of the GAB.

“When it comes out as the NEP (National Expenditure Program from Malacañang) there are lump sums but by the time it (congressional deliberation) ends already, when the GAB comes out from Congress – the Senate version amendments – when they come out, they will be detailed,” Zubiri told reporters.

“But I can guarantee you that we will make sure – we will be debating in plenary – we’ll make sure that the money is wisely spent,” he said.

The Senate is starting plenary deliberations on the GAB today with the aim of passing the measure on Nov. 23. After that, the Senate and the House will convene the bicameral conference committee to reconcile the conflicting provisions of their respective versions of the GAB.

Zubiri said the two chambers hope to have the GAB signed into law before Christmas.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III on Sunday bared that there is anywhere between P480 billion and P1 trillion in various lump sum allocations in GAB that are unconstitutional and lacking in transparency that Congress must realign to urgent programs.

Pimentel warned Congress would be surrendering its power over the purse if lawmakers allow the passage of lump sums that he warned are prone to wastage and abuse even as he stressed that the Constitution abhors budgetary provisions that are vague.

“What we’re looking for are huge lump sums with no details, and the easiest lump sum we could find are the confidential and intelligence funds… we estimated them to be over P9 billion,” he said.

He said the Office of the President has P4.5 billion in confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) while other law enforcement agencies like the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) have hundreds of millions of pesos of the same.

But what was alarming under the present administration is that civilian agencies were also allocated CIFs, like the Department of Education (DepEd), which has P500 million in CIFs, at par with PDEA’s, he said.

He said other agencies like the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health that are “civilian offices that want to be intelligence and law enforcement agencies,” are also asking for CIFs which, if granted, will set a dangerous precedent.

He said the main and urgent problems of the country are rising inflation, food security and the impact of recurring natural disasters.

He said other important laws, like the increase in indigent senior citizens’ pension, supplemental feeding program and education for children with special needs, remain unfunded as the administration appears to have “lack of focus” in crafting its budget.

Pimentel also cited other provisions in the GAB that he believes should be realigned, including P10 billion in the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, P13 billion in “growth equity fund,” P149 billion for “support” for infrastructure and social programs and P300 billion for “support” for foreign loans.

He said there is also some P500 million in lump sum provision in the proposed budget for the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Zubiri, however, said the CIFs are necessary as they can also be used for emergency expenses, like in the case of the DepEd, which can immediately disburse funds for school buildings damaged by typhoons.

The annual budget, he said, is inflexible, which prevents agencies from realigning funds for urgent concerns.