Senate extends MOOE 2019

MANILA, Philippines — With a vote of 19-0-0, the Senate approved on third reading the measure extending the availability of funds for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and capital outlays under the 2019 budget until Dec. 31, 2020.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said with 19 affirmative votes, no negative votes and no abstention, House Bill 5437 an act extending the availability of the 2019 appropriations to Dec. 31, 2020 amending for the purpose section 65 of the general provisions of Republic Act 1120 or the General Appropriations Act 2019 is approved on third reading.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said this bill is more about giving the government the chance to accelerate actual spending and less about giving more time for them to do it. 

“It is meant to turbo charge spending and not simply extend the period for it to continue with its current sluggish pace. Because if the velocity and volume of disbursement will remain as is during the extended period, then at the end, it will not make much of a difference at all,” said Recto as he explained his affirmative vote.

“This is like a basketball game which has gone into overtime, of which the goal of the team behind is to score and not to waste time by simply passing the ball around,” said Recto. “And the same is true in overcoming deficits – whether in games or in national expenditures.”

The government was forced to operate on a reenacted budget due to the delay in the approval of the 2019 national budget as the House of Representatives failed to submit the General Appropriations Bill on time.

Recto emphasized the “legal variety” of accelerated disbursement because breakneck spending should not be at the expense of breaking laws. 

“In the panic to spend, agencies should not resort to – and DBM must not countenance – the usual recipes in the almanac of fake spending, like transferring the procurement to another agency, such as the DBM Procurement Service, or the PITC, to foist the illusion that an allotment has been obligated,” said Recto.

“This kind of ‘pasa-load’ type of obligation merely extends the validity of a fund and does not give it any value in terms of service provided or goods procured,” said Recto. “This violates the taxpayers’ trust – taxpayers who have been assured again and again that money taken from them in cash will be returned to them in kind as fast as they had been collected.”