MANILA, Philippines?The Arroyo administration?s fund releases that led to the supposed ?depletion? of the P1.54-trillion national budget were not anomalous, according to the highest-ranking career official in the budget department.

If at all, the previous administration may be faulted with imprudence for not calibrating the fund releases with the inflow of revenues, said Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos at a Palace briefing.

The releases amounting to P949.2 billion as of June 30 ?were all within the authorization? made by Congress, said Relampagos.

?There is nothing illegal because everything is within the authority granted by Congress to the Executive branch to spend for the year. Meaning, we didn?t exceed the P1.54 trillion,? he said.

But while legal, the releases showed a lack of prudence on the part of the previous administration as this happened at a time when revenues had slowed down, Relampagos said.

?In terms of the fiscal situation at the time, it would have been more prudent if the releases were calibrated with revenue inflow so that the deficit target would not have been exceeded,? he said.

From January to June this year, the budget deficit grew by P51 billion because government revenues fell short by P23 billion, and expenditures exceeded the target by P27 billion, he said.

?So there is an imbalance of the pattern in the spending of the government,? he said.

Relampagos confirmed that only P591.4 billion remained of the P1.54-trillion budget, as claimed by President Benigno Aquino III. Of the P591 billion, P313 billion ?cannot be touched? since these had been automatically appropriated for debt service and Internal Revenue Allotment, leaving more than P100 billion at the government?s disposal, he said.

Relampagos was presented at a press conference Wednesday by the Palace that has been put on the defensive after critics denounced President Aquino?s claims in his State of the Nation Address that the 2010 budget had been depleted by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman said Mr. Aquino was given a ?bum steer? by his Cabinet officials who gave him the wrong data, false statistics and flawed analysis. With reports from DJ Yap