Party-list Reps. Arlene Brosas and Raoul Manuel FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Makabayan bloc lawmakers believe the Office of the Vice President (OVP) should not be allowed to request funding for programs that have not been effective, as it was revealed that only 0.4 percent of the Magnegosyo Ta Day budget was utilized.
At the hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations on Tuesday, Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel asked the Commission on Audit (COA) about Magnegosyo Ta Day, an OVP program which supposedly aims to free “individuals, groups, and sectors” from poverty “by integrating them into the mainstream economy.”
According to the COA representative, the OVP only spent P600,000 of the P1.5 million allocated for this program.
“I have a question for the Magnegosyo ta Day, For the Magnegosyo ta Day, what is the allotted budget for this program? Then how much was utilized?” Brosas asked.
“For the Magnegosyo ta Day, program of the OVP, the OVP allotted 150 million […] Based on the COA report, out of the P150 million, only P600,000 or 0.40 percent were utilized as of December 31, 2023, Madam Chair,” COA’s representative replied.
“So the funds were wasted, Madam Chair, funds for these programs should have been placed under the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry),” Brosas added.
During his turn to interpellate, Manuel then asked if the P600,000 released by the OVP went to four beneficiaries only — which the COA confirmed. However, the commission’s representative clarified that the extremely low utilization rate was due to the program being in its initial stages of implementation, and with prospective sectors not being able to comply with requirements.
“For the Magnegosyo ta Day program, for the information (of the lawmaker), this is the pilot, the pilot year implementation is the year 2023. That’s why one of the reasons for the low utilization is that the program has just started,” the COA representative said.
“At the same time, it was stated in the report that possible beneficiaries encountered a difficulty to comply with the required documents, so there are beneficiaries who failed to comply with these. That is why they did not release a grant. So that’s why only four (groups) got a grant for 2023,” he added.
But Manuel said that more groups — at least 1,000 organizations — could have benefitted from the program if it was fully implemented.
“Madam Chair, supposedly, assuming that the same rate will be given, P150,000 per beneficiary group, the entire budget would allow for 1,000 beneficiaries. But only four groups received. So actually, Madam Chair, we should not let this performance pass and let them ask for more for 2025 when this is what happened,” Manuel noted.
“Maybe that is why they (OVP) did not really answer the questions last time, on August 27, on the proposed budget because they are also proposing funds for a similar program for the next year,” he added.
This is not the first issue faced by the OVP in relation to COA reports. During the August 27 hearing on the OVP’s proposed budget, Duterte was peppered with questions about her confidential fund (CF) expenditure in 2022, as COA disallowed at least P73 million of the P125 million allocated that year.
However, the Vice President refused to directly answer lawmakers’ questions, saying that she forgoes the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format, or by insisting that they have already coordinated with COA regarding the notice of disallowance.
READ: Rep. Castro: Misuse of confidential funds an impeachable offense
Due to these answers, lawmakers agreed to defer deliberations of OVP’s budget. They were scheduled to appear for another round of discussions on Tuesday, but neither Duterte nor any representative from the OVP were present to address the questions.
Instead, Duterte opted to send a letter to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and appropriations chairperson and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co to inform them that OVP has already submitted necessary documents to the House panel.
READ: Sara Duterte told: Even if you’re VP, you can’t insult House
House members have condemned Duterte for her absence, with Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante saying that not even the country’s second-highest official can insult the Congress.