BFP has P 4.1-B in ‘parked funds’ at PS-DBM, PITC

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has P4.1-billion of “parked funds” in the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) and the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC).

At the House budget hearing on the Department of the Interior and Local Government, House Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Zarate questioned the BFP for seeking higher allocation despite having huge amounts of unused funds in previous years.

Louie Puracan, officer-in-charge of the BFP, told lawmakers that the PS-DBM and the PITC had failed to deliver their procurement from 2015 to 2017.

“In 2015, 28 fire trucks amounting to P440 million, and in 2016 and 2017, 126 firetrucks. So in the period of three years, 2015 to 2017, the procurement was done at the PS-DBM and the PITC,” Puracan said.

“However, from 2018 to 2021, the procurement is done within the bureau. The problem is that the procurement in 2015 to 2017 were still undisbursed, undelivered by the PITC and the DBM,” he added.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, who was also present during the deliberations, said he ordered the BFP to conduct its own procurement starting in 2018 after the recurring issues on undelivered procurements for BFP.