Senate may authorize departments to realign savings

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate is looking at granting department heads the authority to realign savings realized within their respective jurisdictions.

Senate President Franklin Drilon yesterday said the present system used for realigning savings is tedious and causes unnecessary delays.

The issue was brought up during the hearing on the proposed P391.2- billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), during which Secretary Rogelio Singson aired his frustration over the change in the rules as far as the use of savings is concerned.

Before the Supreme Court came out with its ruling on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), Singson said that the departments were allowed to realign savings realized within the fiscal year.

In the case of the DPWH, these savings were generated from the lower costs incurred for certain projects, including those brought about by competitive bidding processes.

From 2014 to the present, Singson said the DPWH was able to realize some P33 billion in savings.

However, after the Supreme Court’s ruling on the DAP, the Department of Budget and Management now requires departments to seek approval from them and the Office of the President before the savings could be realigned.

As a result of this tedious process, Singson said the DPWH was not able to utilize its savings and these were reverted to the national treasury.

Singson said the process would be facilitated if the Cabinet secretaries or department heads would be allowed to realign savings to items already present in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).– With Jess Diaz