MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) posted its highest budget utilization at 95 percent last year amid the government’s push for efficient disbursement of funds.
DA had a budget allocation of P46 billion last year.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said Cagayan Valley topped the regions after it registered 100 percent budget utilization followed by Ilocos with 99.99 percent and Cordillera Administrative Region (99.98 percent).
“This was the highest ever posted by the DA. The 4.44 percent budget for 2017 which was not utilized represented failed biddings and foreign-funded projects which could no longer be implemented because it no longer had local counterpart funds,” Pinol said.
When he assumed office, Pinol said the DA had about P7 billion of unspent funds from 2015.
Lawmakers, who conduct budget hearings, have emphasized that underspending by government agencies and local government units has affected the economy’s ability to reach its full potential in the past years.
“Government funds must be disbursed quickly as these are necessary to address the problems of the people. Government money which is not spent represents services due to the people which were not delivered,” Pinol said.
“Any official who proudly claims that he has accumulated savings in his agency is actually admitting that he is a very poor financial manager and an incompetent one,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Agri chief called for the creation of a financial and management team which would assess and review the problems encountered by poor performing regions to ensure remedial measures.
The DA expects to more than double its budget for 2019 to P124 billion, bulk of which will go to the rice sector. This is 104 percent higher than this year’s allocation of P60.6 billion.
The budget proposal, however, may still increase as it still doesn’t include allocations for the three agencies that were recently reverted back to the DA.