By Butch Fernandez & Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
Malacañang expressed confidence on Wednesday that Congress can pass the Palace-proposed P3-trillion budget bill for next year even without the pork barrel, as professed by Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad, when most lawmakers need to tap available funding for public projects seen to boost their campaigns for various posts at stake in the 2016 elections.
Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. pointed out that the annual budget bill sailed through Congress the past four years sans the pork barrel, also known as the abolished Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for senators and congressmen, that critics claim had only been renamed.
According to Coloma, there was an earlier agreement between the Executive branch and Congress leadership “on the imperative of need to enact the 2016 national budget in a timely manner, just as it had been enacted for the past four years.”
“We trust that our lawmakers are responsive to the public clamor for timely budget approval,” Coloma added.
Not pork-free
A party-list lawmaker, meanwhile, said President Aquino will still be given a wide latitude to force the accumulation of “savings” in a manner similar to the unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) under the 2016 national budget.
Rep. Terry L. Ridon of Kabataan Party-list, citing the proposed 2016 P3.002-trillion national budget submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), scored Abad’s assurance that the administration’s final budget proposal is “pork-free.”
“A cursory reading of the P3.002-trillion national budget proposal reveals that the provisions on the redefinition of savings and augmentation that have been first inserted in the 2015 General Appropriations Act have all been carried over to the 2016 budget proposal,” Ridon said.
According to the 2016 National Expenditure Program, the DBM estimates that the government will be able to generate some P67.5 billion in savings next year.
The lawmaker said that in Section 63 of the General Provisions of the 2016 proposed budget, it is stated that “savings may be declared when there are balances of any programmed appropriations” resulting from the following:
Discontinuance or abandonment of a PAP (program, activity or project) by the head of agency concerned for justifiable causes not attributable to the fault or negligence of the agency and which will render it impossible to implement said PAP in FY 2016;
Noncommencement or the inability of an agency to obligate an allotment for justifiable causes not attributable to the fault or negligence of the agency and which will render it impossible to implement said PAP in FY 2016;
Improved systems and efficiencies in the implementation of the PAPs and delivery of services which are consistent with their performance targets;
A lower contract cost than that provided in the approved budget for the contract;
Unused personnel services costs pertaining to (i) unfilled, vacant or abolished positions; (ii) nonentitlement to allowances and benefits; (iii) leaves of absence without pay; and (iv) death of pensioners, decrease in the number of retirees, or other related causes.
The lawmaker also said that Section 64 of the 2016 budget proposal states that augmentation refers to “the act of the constitutional officers authorized to use savings in their respective appropriations to cover a deficiency in any existing PAP within their respective offices.”
A deficiency in a PAP may result from unforeseen modifications or adjustments in the PAP; or Reassessment in the use, prioritization and/or distribution of resources, he said.
At a Palace briefing, Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda also sought to play down former Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s disclosure that some administration allies in Congress were allowed to identify pet projects for funding in the 2016 national budget even before it was submitted for legislative approval, in what was seen as a revival of the discredited pork-barrel system.
“I have no information on that point,” Lacierda told reporters. “Secretary Abad mentioned that there is no pork in the 2016 proposed budget.”
Lacierda noted that the entire P3-trillion 2016 budget is not going to be spent only by the Aquino administration, explaining that half of that will be inherited by the next administration that will assume office on June 30.
“So, hindi lang ito budget ng gobyernong ito. Ilalatag na po natin ang budget para sa susunod na administrasyon, at doon sa susunod na administrasyon may magbabago ring mga kongresista dahil magbabago lahat po ’yan e, so hindi po ’yan ano… ito.… This is really a budget to ensure good governance beyond 2016,” Lacierda insisted.