On time for all 6 years, Noy signs 2016 budget

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino signed the P3.002-trillion national budget yesterday, capping the administration’s record of enacting the budget on time for six straight years while reaching its goal of hitting the global benchmark for infrastructure investment, which is five percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

“The budget we allocated for the Department of Public Works and Highways: P400.4 billion. Among those it will support are the completion of all national roads and implementation of flood control projects to lessen the damage caused by flooding,” Aquino said after signing the budget before a perked up crowd at the Palace.

Aquino said every road, bridge, port, airport, school and farm-to-market road built across the country is part of the strategy for achieving inclusive growth.

“Maybe no one can say, with a hand on the Bible, that their city or province was neglected,” the President said.

Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said they have already advanced procurement works and that the DPWH would be able to obligate 61 percent of its budget before the March 25 election ban. The national elections are scheduled in May.

“This year, we already bid some of the procurement works so we saved three to four months (and would) substantially obligate the budget before the March 25 deadline,” Abad said.

Aquino said funds have also been allocated for new evacuation centers and other projects on disaster preparations.

He said P38.9 billion was allotted for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund and part of it would be for rehabilitation programs, including the Yolanda Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan.

Aquino said aside from additional evacuation centers, the quality of public buildings would also be scrutinized to ensure the safety of the people, especially in times of natural calamities.

Abad said “P64 will be spent on social and economic services” for every P100 in the 2016 budget.

Education priority

The President said the Department of Education was given the biggest allocation of P436.5 billion.

Aquino cited the need for new investments in education, including 47,553 classrooms, 103.2 million new textbooks and 79,691 positions for teaching and non-teaching personnel.

Aquino said the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program would get P62.7 billion for 4.6 million targeted household-beneficiaries, including more than 218,000 Filipino families who were not part of the Listahanan 1 in 2008 to 2009.  The families are composed of indigent indigenous peoples and those living on the streets.

The President stressed the positive results of the programs are very clear. “Based on the initial study of the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), 1.5 million households or an equivalent of 7.5 million Filipinos had been lifted above the poverty line because of (the CCT program).”

Abad said the 2016 budget was double the 2010 allocation.

The budget chief added everything had been laid out for the next administration and that they would not be leaving the national coffers empty, unlike when they assumed office.

The President thanked Congress and various institutions for the “new record achieved,” which was to pass the budget on time for six straight years.

Aquino said the 2010 and 2011 budgets were only passed on to them.

Of the P1.54-trillion 2010 budget, only P100 billion or 6.5 percent was left for the new administration to spend in the first six months of its term.

“The question was: Where did the money possibly go?” Aquino said.

Under the previous administration, Aquino said the budgets were always reenacted and that in 2007, the General Appropriations Act was signed in April.

Missing funds

He said the previous administration retained funds for programs and projects that were already completed, especially for items like salaries, maintenance and other operating expenses. “Where did the excess funds go?”

The President said the system was stopped and the right process was pushed because late budget would mean delay in the delivery of services and prolonging the suffering of the people.

“Like I said: If the proposed budget of the executive was reasonable, the dialogue with Congress would be smooth and (the proposal) would be easily passed,” he said.

Aquino also noted they were able to raise the budget without imposing new taxes, except the sin tax.

The President thanked the DBM led by Abad, Senate President Franklin Drilon, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Senate finance committee chair Sen. Loren Legarda and her vice chair Sen. Cynthia Villar, House appropriations committee chairman Isidro Ungab and House Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzales II for their commitment to pass the budget promptly.

Members of the Cabinet and other stakeholders were also present during the budget signing.

“Most of all, thank you to our bosses – for your continued contribution to good governance toward the country’s continued acceleration. It has not changed: You made this happen and would continue to make the changes happen,” Aquino said.

The President said this was just part of the transformation under his straight path policy.

Abad said the President vetoed the provisions that allowed agencies to retain the income they were generating.

“The basic policy is (there should be) one fund, everything must go to general fund so that Congress can properly appropriate the funds. So it’s an exception we grant very strictly to certain agencies, but in this instance you need a substantive law to allow agencies to retain their income, you can’t do it via GAA because that’s considered a rider,” Abad said.

Safeguards

Sen. Francis Escudero said there are enough safeguards in the 2016 budget program to prevent abuse or another PDAF-like controversy.

He said lawmakers – as ruled by the Supreme Court – should not tinker with the budget once it has been approved by the President.

The SC ruling came at the height of the controversy over the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF and the Disbursement Acceleration Program.

He said he was glad politics did not stand in the way of budget deliberations. He said he resigned as Senate finance committee chairman precisely to keep the budget from being tainted with politics.

Legarda, for her part, said the 2016 budget contains provisions that would not only reduce poverty but also promote sustainability.

“This is a budget that will fund programs not only for economic development but also for the growth of every citizen; not only to create progressive communities but also to build resilience; not only to reduce poverty but also to promote sustainability,” she said.

With Legarda at the helm of budget deliberations in the previous months, several provisions introduced were aimed at promoting disaster risk reduction (DRR) and making local communities resilient.

She said these were designed taking into consideration the Sendai Framework for DRR, the Sustainable Development Goals and the country’s Intended Nationally-Determined Contributions.

“We have introduced special provisions that reiterate the implementation of our environmental laws, such as the Rainwater Collector and Springs Development Law, Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Law, Climate Change Act, Renewable Energy Law, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, People’s Survival Fund Act, among many others. Moreover, agencies of government are required to contribute to implementing these laws,” Legarda said.

For instance, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, aside from its current environmental programs such as the National Greening Program, will embark on a National Coral Restoration Program.

Legarda also noted that funding was provided for capacity building programs for the implementation of the ESWM for the first time since its enactment.

Special provisions in the budgets for the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the DPWH state that the two agencies must ensure the construction of green and resilient evacuation centers in every region in the country.

Another provision stipulates that the Department of Education and State Universities and Colleges must integrate the following in their respective curricula: environmental protection and awareness, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation, indigenous knowledge systems pertaining to agriculture, environment and cultural heritage.

Additional tasks

The DSWD, in the conduct of family development sessions for beneficiaries of the CCT program, would be required to integrate in its program the protection of the environment, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and mitigation, including the preservation of the indigenous culture in some localities.

“This achievement in budgetary reform and transparency is no small feat. To my recollection, in our recent national history, only the present Aquino administration was able to ensure the timely passage of the national budget throughout its term, which means unimpeded delivery of services to the Filipino people,” Drilon, for his part, said.

Drilon said a bigger national budget was necessary “to sustain the pro-people investment of the current administration.”

“With P411.91 billion going to the education sector and P123.51 billion for the health sector next year, our allocations on social services directly helping our countrymen are much higher compared to past administrations,” he said.

Drilon said that the challenge is now for the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs to improve and enhance their revenue collection strategies so that that the government would have the funds necessary for all the programs and services earmarked under the 2016 budget.

“With the many reforms instituted in both the BIR and the BOC during this administration, this goal is surely possible,” Drilon said. – Marvin Sy, Christina Mendez