Angara defends P450 billion hike in 2024 budget standby funds

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sonny Angara has defended the P450-billion hike in unprogrammed funds in the ratified 2024 national budget, saying it has been a longtime practice to appropriate a standby fund in the budget law.

Angara made the statement after minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III said the increase in the unprogrammed, or the so-called “standby” fund, from the Executive’s proposed P281.9 billion in the National Expenditure Program to P731.4 billion “is unconstitutional.”

“The unprogrammed fund is nothing new. It’s been there for the last two decades,” Angara, who chairs the Senate finance committee, said in a CNN Philippines interview yesterday.

He added that the P731.4-billion unprogrammed fund next year is actually smaller than last year’s around P800 billion and that the increase in the fund is a sign of the country’s robust economy.

There is an unprogrammed fund in the General Appropriations Bill because of the need to give “leeway” to the executive to have spending authority to fund programs if revenue collection exceeds targets, according to the senator.

“(Unprogrammed funds have) been growing over time because it is a sign of the growing economy. It is part of the Philippine growth story. In case our collections are above target, then there is a good chance some of these unprogrammed or stand by projects will be funded,” Angara said.

As to Pimentel’s view that the hike in the unprogrammed fund effectively increased the ratified P5.768-trillion national budget to over P6 trillion – a congressional move prohibited by the Constitution – Angara said the constitutional provision only serves to “prevent congressional overreach and prevent the Executive from spending beyond its means.”

He was referring to Section 25(1), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, which states that: “The Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the President for the operation of the Government as specified in the budget. The form, content and manner of preparation of the budget shall be prescribed by law.”

“That concern is not present in the unprogrammed funds, because the Executive has a lot of elbow room when it comes to the ‘menu,’ so to speak, of the unprogrammed funds or standby appropriation,” Angara said.

According to a briefer by the Department of Budget and Management, unprogrammed appropriations “are those which provide standby authority to incur additional agency obligations for priority programs or projects when revenue collection exceed targets and when additional grants or foreign funds are generated.”

Programmed appropriations, meanwhile, are those “with definite/identified funding as of the time the budget is prepared.”