DBM: ‘Redundant’ funding for infra projects in 2021 budget are multi-year deals

MANILA, Philippines — The “redundant” items under the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) proposed budget for next year that were flagged by Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson as “questionable” are multi-year contracts, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado explained Tuesday.

Avisado said those items are “big-ticket infrastructure projects” that cannot be appropriated in a single year.

“Ito po iyong mga big ticket projects, malalaking proyekto po,” he pointed out during a televised Palace press briefing.

“At ang ginawa po ng DPWH ay ginawa niya na MYCA, multi-year contractual authority, dahil kulang nga po iyong pera for this year,” he added.

The Budget chief then vowed to go into the details of the items in the upcoming budget hearings in Congress.

Lacson earlier said he spotted “hundreds of millions” of “questionable” and possibly redundant appropriations under the executive department’s proposed P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021.

According to the senator, there are appropriations for infrastructure projects under the proposed 2021 national budget that have already been included in the 2020 national budget.

The DPWH’s allocation is the second-highest share in the 2021 budget pie, trailing the Education sector with an allotment of P754.4 billion.

The government is banking on infrastructure development to aid the country’s economic recovery after suffering from a recession in the first half of 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

READ: BBB program gets hefty P1.1T allocation in 2021 budget

The House of Representatives is scheduled to conduct its first set of budget hearings on Friday, September 4.

KGA