Where budget cuts do more harm

Reports about the planned cuts in the proposed 2009 budget are quite disturbing to say the least. The cuts were reportedly being carved out of the total budget pie contained in the P1.4 trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2009 that Congress failed to approve before yearend. Fortunately, our Constitution provided for such exigency that allows the government to operate under a re-enacted budget in case Congress fails to pass a new GAA before Dec.31 of each year.

Thus, the two chambers of Congress can adjourn for their month-long Christmas break without having to worry about paralyzing government operations for their failure to approve a GAA for the new budget year. The 14th Congress will resume sessions on Jan.19. In the meantime, the national government is again operating under a re-enacted budget, or using the 2008 budget until the 2009 spending bill is approved.

Before they adjourned, the Senate approved their version of the proposed 2009 GAA. The next stage is for the GAA to go through the bicameral conference committee to reconcile the differing provisions and consolidate this. It is here at the bicam or the so-called “third chamber” where the horse-trading or the give-and-take among Senators and Congressmen are quietly done among themselves. They conduct their bicam meeting in the inner sanctums or venues where there are no audience or public gallery to watch over their proceedings.

These cuts were reportedly recommended by the Senate finance committee previously chaired by now Senate president Juan Ponce-Enrile. It is now chaired by Sen. Edgardo Angara.who purportedly engineered Enrile’s installation as Senate chief late last year. Angara is fingered as the one who put together the opposition and pro-administration Senators to wrestle the Upper Chamber’s leadership from erstwhile Senate president Manny Villar. I’m not surprised by these revelations since Angara is a veteran of past Senate coups. Angara himself was once unseated as Senate president in the 10th Congress.

The Senate has reportedly cut the 2009 budgets of 21 state colleges and universities (SCUs) in the provinces by P323 million. However, it increased the subsidies for next year of most SCUs ranging from a low of P634,000 to a high of P362 million.

The University of the Philippines received the biggest increase of P362 million from the Senate. That bloated its 2009 budget to P6.8 billion.

Angara, who recommended the reductions and augmentations, was UP president during the Marcos years. UP’s increased subsidy next year is equivalent to the combined budgets of 47 other provincial SCUs all over the country.

If you compare it with the Eastern Samar State University, located in one of the poorest provinces in the country, it received the smallest augmentation — P634,000. The subsidy cuts on these SCUs are very glaring when compared to UP especially because of the fact that a great bulk of the student population of the UP system belong to high income family instead of students from poor families who are being eased out.

In addition to the 21 SCUs, the Senate also reduced the subsidies of four state-owned specialty hospitals, all located in Quezon City, by a total of P347.5 million. It is not clear up to now why the Senators made these cuts on these four government specialty hospitals where most of them refer and send their constituents needing medical assistance for treatment.

Of the four, the Philippine Heart Center suffered the biggest cut of P181 million. Senators reduced its budget from P417 million as approved by the House to P236 million. The National Kidney and Transplant Institute, also known as Kidney Center, lost P117 million, bringing its 2009 funds down to P198.5 million. And the Philippine Children’s Medical Center was also deprived of P47.5 million as its budget is reduced to P251 million. And, the Lung Center of the Philippines suffered the smallest reduction of P2 million. Its budget was cut to P161.6 million.

Curiously spared from budget cut is the UP-run Philippine General Hospital in Taft Avenue, Manila located within the compound of the UP College of Medicine. I have no quarrel with that. In fact, it would be better if the P1.1 billion budget for 2009 of the UP-PGH is increased to help them attend to the medical needs of more indigent patients who could not afford the rising cost of hospitalization.

Considering the growing number of people afflicted with lung, kidney and heart-related problems which unfortunately afflict mostly the poor and low income groups, it would be heartless of our lawmakers to insist on these budget cuts if only for the benefit of their pet projects.

Notably, the budget of the Aurora Special Economic Zone Authority, which was created by a law authored by Angara, was increased from P150 million to P400 million. Funds for the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) were increased by P329 million to P1.129 billion. The CEZA is a known turf of Enrile who authored its creation into law.

In such instances as well as in other realignments that are yet to be discovered later, Senators slashed various appropriations and realigned the reductions to their respective pet projects and favorite agencies. Obviously, the Senators slashed various appropriations to fund their insertions reportedly amounting to more than P20 billion.

These are the kinds of budget cuts that do more harm than good when they go through congressional insertions or initiatives, whether made by Senators or Congressmen. They also form part of the solons’ pork barrel allocations in the annual budget.

Angara’s counterpart, Quirino Rep. Junie Cua, House appropriations committee chairman, vowed they would try to convince the Senators to restore the fund cuts of these four specialty government hospitals. The bicam which Cua and Angara co-chair, met once on Dec.23. The talks immediately hit a blank wall as the bicam panel members of Congressmen demanded to know the details of the senatorial insertions.

More than two weeks have passed since the reports of these alleged cuts and re-alignments came out, Angara and other Senators have not refuted these allegations. We hope to hear from them soon.