MALACAÑANG insisted on Monday that the controversial last-minute errata submitted by Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad to the House of Representatives were mostly corrections of “typo errors” in the P2.6-trillion 2015 budget bill version earlier passed by the House on second reading.
In a Palace briefing on Monday, Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda reported that 80 percent of the 100 pages of errata compiled by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) pertained to typographical errors and that only 20 percent comprised “disaggregation” of funds under the so-called Grassroots Performance Budgeting (GPB) “as requested by the House itself.”
“Clarification lang doon sa errata; just to give you some details on the errata. Eighty percent of the budget errata is composed of corrections to typographical errors. So, 80 percent of that is typo errors, corrections ng typo errors; while the rest are details on the disaggregation of projects under the GPB program and this disaggregation of projects was required by the House of Representatives, for them to disaggregate. And so, the DBM, in the errata, disaggregated the projects,” Lacierda told Palace reporters.
In addition, the Palace chief spokesman said the errata also identified the additional requirements of various agency programs, such as the P53.5 million for the forestland-management project for loan proceeds of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; the P1.6 billion for general administration and support services of the Bureau of Customs; the P299 million for expenses for market and product development of the Department of Tourism; and the P92.7 million for the establishment of the Department of Trade and Industry’s GoNegosyo centers.
“And we also have made an additional provision of P8 billion in a contingent fund for the requirements of the Bangsamoro entity and also P3.3 billion in the international commitment fund for the hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation [Apec] meetings in 2015,” he added. “So iyon po, ito ’yung errata basically.”
Lacierda said the Palace was now leaving it up to the DBM to fully explain the matter to the House of Representatives after lawmakers belonging to the Makabayan bloc, led by Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna, questioned the errata and vowed to go to court and question its legality.
“Now, we leave it with the DBM. Na-explain na ito po ng DBM sa House of Representatives,” Lacierda said. “So, kung ’yung sinasabi—kung anong mga political issues doon bahala ang Bayan Muna but, the fact of the matter is, the errata comprised of 80 percent, which is to correct the typo errors and one part of it was required by the House of Representatives, to disaggregate the projects—which is good for us. We prefer disaggregation as much as possible and so we did that; and so to provide funding for the rest.”
Lacierda sought to play down the controversy over the last-minute “corrections” in the P2.6-trillion money measure saying, “Errata are common.”
“Every year it happens except it has gained some prominence primarily because of this whole issue on the budget,” the Palace official said even as he added that Malacañang remained hopeful the 2015 budget bill would be passed by the House and the Senate before the lawmakers adjourn at year end.
“Yes, we are confident that the budget will pass by—before the year-end,” he added.