Senate panel OKs Office of the President’s P8.2-B budget for 2022

Facade of the Senate building in Pasay City. (Philippine Daily Inquirer file photo)

MANILA, Philippines — It took a little longer than usual for the Senate finance panel to approve the nearly P8.2-billion proposed budget of the Office of the President (OP) for 2022 due to questions regarding the approval of fund release for agency projects.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the proposed budget of the OP was deemed submitted to the plenary. The OP proposed a budget of P8,182,033 next year.

The panel, chaired by Senator Sonny Angara, also approved the P751.17-million proposed budget of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), which is 5.11 percent lower than its budget this year.

The PMS, according to the 1987 Administrative Code, is the primary government agency “directly responsible to the Office of the President for providing staff assistance in the presidential exercise of overall management of the development process.”

The hearing lasted for nearly one hour, longer than the usual time it takes for the OP’s budget to be approved in previous instances.

‘For later release’

It was Senator Nancy Binay who first raised the issue regarding the funds classified as “for later release” (FLR) intended for projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“It was discussed in DBCC (Development Budget Coordination Committee) hearing na 30 percent pa lang out of the DPWH projects ang nari-release pa lang,” Binay said.

Sen. Ma. Lourdes Nancy S. Binay  (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)

(It was discussed in the DBCC hearing that only funding for 30 percent of DPWH projects have been released.)

“Ang sabing explanation ng DBM (Department of Budget and Management) kasi wala pa daw [The reason the DBM cited was because the release of funds still need] clearance from OP. I think the amount was P100 billion worth of projects,” she added.

Pointing out that there are only a few months left in the year, Binay lamented the non-release of the said funds.

Earlier, senators were informed that FLR may be reverted to the government if not utilized by December this year.

“Itong mga proyekto na ‘to na sana patapos na e hanggang ngayon hindi pa nasisimulan…Binigyan natin ng allocation ito last year as part of Build, Build, Build program, but nakakagulat,” Binay went on.

(These projects should have been nearing completion but now, they have yet to be started.  We gave allocation for these last year as part of the Build, Build, Build program but it’s surprising.)

“Mago-October na in a few days and then may maririnig tayo ng P100 billion worth of projects na alam natin can generate a lot of jobs na kailangan na kailangan natin ngayon pero hanggang ngayon di pa nai-implement,” she added.

(It’s already October in a few days and then we will hear that about P100 billion worth of projects, which can help generate needed jobs, have yet to be implemented.)

Michael Ong, senior deputy executive secretary, explained that projects to be funded with FLR funds “warrants the imposition of special conditions for their release.”

“The FLR are limited to the new budgetary items that are not in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) and many of these—because they are not in the NEP—have not gone through in the usual vetting process of the agencies,” Ong told senators.

“We acknowledge and we recognize the collective wisdom of Congress on these budgetary items in the General Appropriations Act for 2021 but we have to—as these are not part of the original plan—we have to make sure that they are vetted fully by the agencies and the DBM before they are released. And that’s why they are being subject to the approval of the president as well,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri also raised concerns over the FLR funds.

“I’ve always been a supporter of the concept of the OP. As a matter of fact, we try to make [the discussion of the OP budget] as painless and as quick as possible,” he said.

According to Zubiri, he always gets questions from his colleagues regarding the release of the said funds.

“Of course I sound like a broken record because I keep saying that it is coming out soon,” he said.

“It would be difficult for me to shepherd the budget when there are questions like this that hound us all the time as a matter of fact it is becoming more difficult for us right now ti push things forward because of these questions,” Zubiri added.

By the end of the hearing, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea assured senators that they will look into the concerns raised by the senators regarding the release of FLR funds.

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