MANILA, Philippines — Further reducing unprogrammed appropriations (UA) in the future is possible depending on the overall fiscal space and project purposes, the Department of Budget and Management said.
DBM Secretary Kim Robert de Leon explained that the overall fiscal space must be considered in lowering or maintaining UA share of less than two percent of the government’s expenditure program.
“Even less of a UA is not impossible. It depends on the purpose,” he said during the annual economic forum of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines yesterday.?
For next year, the government is proposing P111.98 billion in UA, which the DBM pointed out is the lowest since 2019.?
The proposed amount represents 1.6 percent of the total expenditure program next year, making it the lowest UA-to-total expenditure program ratio since 1991, the budget agency added.?
The proposed UA next year includes only four items: restoration of a portion of the fund balances of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., risk management program, support to foreign-assisted projects and conversion of national government advances into subsidy.?
De Leon said the UA for next year is “very limited” since there is a “strict” categorization on whether a program or project would be categorized under UA or not.??
Flood projects??
Meanwhile, De Leon explained that the flood control budget cannot be totally removed in the government’s expenditure program since some projects still need funds to be completed, while completed projects have operation and maintenance costs.?
“There are projects that have started already which, in fact, can cause more damage than protection if remain unfinished,” he said.?
The DBM has filtered the flood control project proposals of the Department of Public Works and Highways to ensure that only those requiring funds for completion and operation and maintenance would be part of next year’s budget, De Leon said.
With the proposed P7.2-trillion 2027 budget transmitted to Congress, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said his office has begun scrutinizing the spending plan to identify wasteful line items early in the process.
Looking ahead to deliberations to be led by Senate finance committee chair JV Ejercito, Lacson also called out district representatives for bypassing grassroots consultation in favor of pushing last-minute insertions once the budget reaches Congress.
“The process is not adhered to because congressmen are not interested to attend local development councils and break down local development plans because their mindset is that the budget will reach Congress and then insert items here, insert items there,” he told radio dzBB, warning of an alarming disconnect between actual local government priorities and national budget funding. — Neil Jayson Servallos