A Budget for next year must have 20-20 vision

When the 18th Congress adjourned last week for their month-long Christmas break, the respective leaderships in both the Senate and the House of Representatives were satisfied having met their commitment to President Rodrigo Duterte – there would be no more re-enacted budget for next year. So true to their words, both chambers ratified the proposed P4.1-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2020 to give enough time for Malacañang to review and go over it before it goes to President Duterte for signing into law on or before Dec. 31 this year.

As of this writing, it is safe to assume the volumes of the 2020 GAA enrolled bill is still in the process of being printed that would contain the so-called “institutional” amendments by the Senators and the “insertions” or re-alignments made by the Congressmen. And let us not forget, the final changes that went into the 2020 GAA bill at the end of the bicameral conference committee after their closed-door wheeling-and-dealings, er, I meant meetings.

Whether these are “institutional” amendments, “insertions,” or re-alignments, they are nothing but just euphemisms for the congressional “pork-barrel” that our lawmakers include to the annual budget that goes through them in Congress. The budget is after all the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the President that needs the approval of Congress which has the constitutional power of the purse.

But wait. Has Congress forgotten that the 2020 GAA bill they have approved also needs to go through the vetting process of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM)?

Because no less than the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) has bypassed DBM Secretary Wendel Avisado. As a bicameral body of Congress that is empowered to vet Cabinet nominees and heads and members of constitutional bodies as well as on the promotion of military officers from colonels up to generals, the 25-man CA confirmed only the appointment to the Department of Agriculture (DA) of Secretary William Dar on their last day of sessions last week.

The by-passing of the budget chief comes at a time when Congress is preparing to submit the proposed P4.21-trillion national budget for next year for the President’s signature. When by-passed, a Cabinet nominee like Avisado has to be issued an ad interim appointment by Malacañang. Avisado is a known close ally of President Duterte whom he first served as city administrator while he was then Mayor of Davao City.

The President appointed Avisado on August 5 this year as “acting” DBM Secretary because the 18th Congress was still in session. Avisado took over from former DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno after the latter was appointed to become Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor last March 4 this year.

It was during Diokno’s watch at the DBM when the 2019 GAA got stalled approval during the third and last sessions of the 17th Congress. This, after the Senators and the House leaders traded accusations of having allegedly “inserted” more than P96 billion worth of projects into the P3.7-trillion budget for this year.

It was only on April 15 this year that President Duterte was able to sign into law the 2019 GAA. Exercising his line-item veto power over the budget measure, the President removed these P96 billion “insertions” that were not specified in the President’s NEP.

The delay in the passage of the 2019 budget slowed down government spending on its Build, Build, Build Infrastructure program. It was also blamed for the slower gross domestic product growth for the first quarter and second quarter at 5.6 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.

As Diokno originally wanted it to happen, the 2019 GAA is supposed to mark the shift to the first annual cash-based budget of the Philippine government. Under this system, all government programs and projects budgeted for the fiscal year should be implemented and delivered within the same fiscal year. Goods and services delivered, inspected, and accepted until the end of the fiscal year will be settled within the same year, up to the 3-month period following the end of the fiscal year, or the Extended Payment Period (EPP).

But since the government was forced to operate under a re-enacted budget using the 2018 GAA for the first four months of this year, this timetable under the cash budgetting system could no longer apply. Hence, the 18th Congress jointly approved last month House Bill 5437 to extend the availability of funds for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and capital outlay under the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA) – the national budget – until Dec. 31, 2020.

But so far, no words yet if President Duterte would agree and sign this into law to allow the government to continue spending funds from 2019 budget that would have otherwise expired by Dec. 31 this year.

It was a way to work around the cash-based budgeting system, or else any amount left over would revert to the National Treasury.

Thus, it is not farfetched to speculate Avisado could be subject to pressure from certain lawmakers as evidenced by his confirmation left hanging in the balance. I don’t know him from Adam, but if the reason for his non-confirmation had anything to do with the 2020 budget, then something is terribly wrong.

To his credit, however, Avisado has so far demonstrated he is no push over. In fact, the DBM Secretary as early as last month has issued a budget call instructing all agencies of the national government to prepare their respective budget proposals. The DBM has set P4.7 trillion target as GAA for 2021.

Meantime, Avisado was quoted telling a media interview last week that the 2020 budget is now scheduled to be signed by the President by the first week of January. Senate president Vicente Sotto III, who is the presiding officer of the CA, disclosed over the weekend the Senate expects the President to sign the 2020 GAA by Jan. 6 or the first Monday of the new year.

According to the DBM Secretary, there will also be a ceremonial signing in Malacañang of next year’s budget that would hopefully have 20-20 vision for the country.