Proposed 2010 budget shows fund misuse - Noynoy

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said yesterday the proposed 2010 budget of the Arroyo administration would show how government resources are wasted.

Aquino said he had been diligently interpellating officials of each agency whose proposed budget comes up for review because he had discovered a lot of anomalies in the process.

He said they found during the budget hearings that the Department of Education (DepEd) accepted books with glaring errors. 

“Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano showed us an (instructional material) with the word ‘techer’ on it. How could that pass? The letters were about two inches and the word teacher was misspelled,” Aquino said.

He said the needed measures to correct the educational system will begin in the discussion of the DepEd budget.

Aquino said he also discovered that some government corporations that had been recommended for closure in early 2000 were still getting millions of funds in the proposed budget for 2010.

He said it was the same thing with the justice system, as many of the processes in the judiciary were dilatory and would indeed slow down the serving of justice in the country.

Other senators joked that Aquino was making sure the budget would be okay in time for his being president in 2010. Aquino, the Liberal Party’s standard-bearer, has been topping the surveys in the presidential race.

But he was also indirectly chided a few times by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile for being late and not being able to interpellate.

Sen. Edgardo Angara defended him, however, saying Aquino had been diligent in scrutinizing the budget even when he was not yet a presidential candidate.

Angara and Enrile said they were hoping to finish the plenary debates on the budget to avoid a re-enacted budget.

Angara said the whole budget would become the administration’s huge pork barrel if there would be no new appropriations measure for 2010.

After the plenary deliberations at the Senate, Angara said they would meet at the bicameral conference committee to harmonize their version of the budget with that of the House of Representatives.