The Senate Committee on Economic Affairs is putting the finishing touches on two bills mandating the submission to Congress of status reports on fiscal and monetary policies issued by the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), as well as full disclosure of contingent liabilities by all government agencies.
Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, committee chairman, on Tuesday tasked a technical working group to consolidate Senate Bills 837 and 862, both authored by newly installed Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto, to pave the way for early plenary consideration and possible approval before Congress goes on a Lenten week recess next month.
SB 837 mandates the secretary of the DOF and the governor of the BSP to appear before Congress semiannually to “report on the status and directions of the fiscal and monetary policies of the State.”
On the other hand, SB8 62 mandates the “annual public disclosure of all contingent liabilities incurred by all national government agencies, local government units, government-owned and -controlled corporations, government financial institutions and other government instrumentalities.”
Interviewed after a joint hearing by the Committees on Economic Affairs and on Finance, Gatchalian confirmed the two bills were referred to a technical working group for consolidation into one committee report that he hopes to sponsor for plenary deliberation soon.
In filing SB 837, Recto cited the volatile nature of the global economy that, he says, “demands prompt and decisive actions” from fiscal authorities. “In this regard, the fiscal and monetary policies of the government are subjected to periodic changes, in accordance with the prevailing economic climate.”
Recto acknowledged that both the DOF and BSP currently report to Congress as members of the Development Budget Coordination Committee during the annual budget deliberations by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
But he noted that their respective reports are limited to the inputs required for budget analysis. “Hence, congressional oversight of fiscal management has been limited at the expense of fiscal accountability.”
Recto asserted it is but proper that, in the interest of transparency and public welfare, the DOF and BSP “must be made more accountable to the people” and suggest that this can be done by mandating concerned agencies to submit to “periodic congressional scrutiny.”