|
A
NATIONWIDE consortium of nongovernment organizations is
calling for a revision of the 2009 budget presented by
the President for approval by the House of
Representatives and the Senate.
The
Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI), which pioneered
civil-society engagement in the national budget process,
said several items in the President’s 2009 budget
threatened the proper and honest delivery of social
services.
Rene
Raya of Action for Economic Reforms said that while the
government reported Overall Savings of P27.67 billion
for 2008, many of the funds appropriated for social
development have not yet been released.
“ABI
calls for the utilization of and release of funds for
programs which have already been appropriated last year.
This includes allocations for health, agriculture,
environment and education which are critical in
achieving government commitments to the Millennium
Development Goals,” Raya said.
The ABI
also said the projected revenues in Budget Expenditures
and Sources of Financing have been adjusted upward by
P56 billion from the original projections in the budget
call despite lowered growth projections.
The
gross domestic product (GDP) growth projections were
recently revised downward to 5.5 percent to 6.4 percent
in 2008 and 6.1 percent to 7.1 percent in 2009. The ABI
also noted that the Asian Development Bank GDP
projection for 2008 only hit the low end of the
government’s target of 5.5 percent.
Former
national treasurer Prof. Leonor Magtolis-Briones, who is
also the convenor of Social Watch Philippines that
organized the ABI, said a balanced budget by 2010 is
impossible to meet with a programmed deficit of P75
billion for 2008 and P40 billion for 2009. She also
noted that borrowings are usually more than the deficit
posted for the year.
The ABI
also opposed the allocation for Special Purpose Funds
(SPF) which amount to P760 billion, or 56 percent of the
2009 proposed budget.
Briones
explained that SPF is not subject to the usual
performance-based budgeting and that the lump-sum funds
under SPF are subject to the President’s discretion and
are prone to abuse.
She said
Congress usually concentrates on budgets for departments
and agencies, but the bulk of the budget is actually in
SPF.
The item
on Unprogrammed Funds (P75.97 billion) contained no
details of how and where it will be used.
In a
presentation, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said the
proposed P1.415-trillion budget for 2009 is a
15.4-percent increase over the 2008 budget of P1.227
trillion.
The 2009
budget is divided into six major sectors. The sector
with the biggest share in 2009 is social services, at
P433.99 billion or 30.67 percent of the total; followed
by economic services, P361.39 billion or 25.54 percent;
debt service, P302.65 billion or 21.39 percent; general
public services, P239.59 billion or 16.93 percent;
defense, P65.22 billion or 4.61 percent; and net
lending, P12.16 billion or 0.86 percent of the total.
|
