P-Noy, Cabinet men tackle P2-T national budget for 2013

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has proposed a P2.006 trillion budget for 2013 subject to approval by President Aquino and the Cabinet, Malacañang said yesterday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Aquino presided over a Cabinet meeting to discuss the DBM proposal and would decide on the final figure after deliberations.

“When there are still concerns and details of the President that need to be amended or need to be addressed, usually it’s the secretary of budget and management that does the refining,” Valte said.

She said education, social services, health, infrastructure, and poverty alleviation remained the priority areas of the 2013 proposed budget.

Valte said Malacañang was targeting to submit the 2013 National Expenditure Program to Congress a day after the President delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 23.

“We will be able to give you the usual pie chart when the final proposed budget is approved by the President,” she said.

During the presentation, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad is expected to highlight the budgets of each department and Aquino would give his comments on what should be revised.

Abad said the government would continue to accelerate spending to boost the economy and provide jobs for the people.

Earlier reports said the DBM was set to recall all the “un-obligated” or unspent funds of slow-spending agencies by the end of the month and channel these to other projects with more chances of being spent.

Abad said this was in line with the administration’s effort to boost spending and sustain the first quarter’s 6.4-percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP).

For the first quarter, the DBM said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) topped the list of underspending agencies, followed by the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health.

“We have already released the bulk of agency budgets in order to speed up public spending. However, we are prepared to withdraw those which remain un-obligated by June 30, and to propose to the President that these unutilized budgetary allocations be realigned to faster-moving programs and projects,” Abad said.

The projects that will likely benefit from the move include support for agrarian-reform communities, tourism access roads, schools, rural-health facilities and social-protection programs.

“We are giving all agencies until June 30 to justify the cause of the delay in the implementation of their projects. If we are not satisfied [with their explanation] then it will be plucked out from them,” Abad added.

Abad said government spending in June was seen to increase despite the end of the dry season, which time infrastructure projects are conducted.

The acceleration in disbursements for the last half of the year would now come from the early implementation of salary increases under the fourth tranche of the Salary Standardization Law III and payments of conditional-cash transfers, among other items.

As of end-May, government departments and agencies have disbursed a total of P668.4 billion.

In May, spending reached P151.3 billion, or 13 percent higher than the same period last year. The growth was attributed to infrastructure spending and maintenance expenditures, which grew year-on-year by 83 percent and 36 percent, respectively.

“To be fair to the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), their spending performance has been actually picking up. In fact, they have even requested to advance their allotment for next year in order to start lined-up projects as early as this year,” Abad said.

The DPWH was last year’s top under-performer in terms of spending, which dragged down the Aquino administration’s overall expenditure performance.