Government to introduce reforms in use of DND funds

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration will take advantage of the opportunity to escalate reforms in the utilization of national defense funds in light of anomalies revealed recently before a Senate probe regarding corruption in the military, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.

Abad said the revelations of former Lt. Col. George Rabusa on the supposed diversion and misuse of national defense funds show that there is a need to improve the budget process.

He said that in the past, “savings” from unfilled or vacated uniformed and non-uniformed positions have been diverted for other purposes because the full personnel services (PS) allotments had been released in full.

Abad, in a statement, said that the national government would release such allotments only for filled positions or an estimated 80 percent of all positions as part of the changes.

For 2011, some P8.602 billion has been withheld “and shielded from possible diversion,” Abad said. 

“As part of the reform measures, the DBM would also require the DND to submit an updated report of the roster of uniformed and non-uniformed personnel of the AFP for a precise picture of real funding requirements. The 2011 Staffing Summary indicates that there are 135,699 uniformed and non-uniformed positions of the AFP, and the total PS allotment amounts to P68.850 billion,” he also said.

Abad said this is similar to what has been done in the case of the Philippine National Police where the MOOE has been allocated on a police-per-capita basis of P1,000 per month. Already, the MOOE of agencies attached to the AFP General Headquarters – such as the Philippine Military Academy, Presidential Security Group and AFP Medical Center – are being released directly to them.

“Conversion” and “certification” practices had also thrived because, in the past, DND enjoyed the release of allotments even without submitting accountability reports. One example of which is the recently-terminated Kalayaan Barangay Program, where only the names and amounts of projects – without supporting documents – are submitted. 

To address this, the DBM has also done technical visits to verify budgetary accounts, validate the status of programs, projects and activities and instruct the agency’s finance group on how to comply with DBM reportorial requirements.

“This has already been emphasized to them: no report, no release,” Abad said.