Lawmakers to keep tight rein on budget

MANILA, Philippines—Members of the House of Representatives identified with both the administration and the opposition have sent word to Malacañang that they would “impose their will” on the P1.82-trillion proposed national budget for 2012 after they were ignored last year.

Manila Rep. Rosenda Ann “Sandy” Ocampo, a member of the administration coalition, said the majority had agreed to take “full control” of all items in the 2012 proposed budget scheduled for public hearings next month.

Dissatisfaction

Ocampo said that in a recent meeting, members of the majority expressed dissatisfaction with how this year’s budget was being mishandled by the Palace.

Ocampo said that all the changes to the budget proposed by the House last year were overruled by Malacanang. “We don’t see that happening this year,” she said.

“I don’t think we will let him (President Aquino) have his way with the budget like we did last year. All of us are disappointed with how the government has implemented its budget this year,” Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay, a member of the opposition, said in an interview.

The Department of Budget and Management has come under fire from lawmakers for putting the brakes on spending in the first half of this year. The move, the lawmakers claimed, led to a slowdown in the economy during the period.

Minority members claimed that the budget deficit of P9.54 billion in the first five months of this year (down 94 percent from last year) was artificial as it was caused more by underspending rather than by actually accruing savings and posting higher collections.

Delays in disbursements

The delays in disbursements in the first half have also adversely affected the release of pork barrel funds to congressmen, who should have received half of their P70-million pork barrel allocations as early as March this year.

Aside from paying greater attention to their pork barrel allotments, lawmakers are also expected to scrutinize the conditional cash transfer program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which has proposed to increase the coverage from 2.3 million families to three million families next year.

Magsaysay said the DSWD would have to explain persistent complaints of abuses in the distribution of the dole.

President Aquino is expected to submit the general appropriations proposal, which is higher by 10.4 percent over this year’s budget, during his State of the Nation Address on July 25