Escudero: Many laws ‘meaningless’ due to lack of gov’t funding

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Congress has allegedly approved P500-billion worth of laws, which remain dormant due to lack of government funding, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said in a statement on Monday.

In the current 15th Congress alone, Escudero said some 70 bills were enacted, creating about 30 courts which did not have funding.

“If Congress did not pass the bills, the Department of Budget (DBM) will not have to allocate funding for new courts in the budget, so it’s a cat and mouse game,” he said.

Also unfunded, Escudero said, is a law that seeks to improve the welfare of persons with disabilities (PWD).

“The PWD law has a worthy cause but it is effectively not implemented even among government offices because it was not unfunded,” he said.

To address the problem, the senator proposed closer coordination between the executive and the legislative branches of government in the crafting of relevant laws by earmarking of funds for laws churning out of the legislative mill.

“If Congress becomes remiss on the enactment of laws, the government will not have any authorization for programs it espouses but on the contrary, the enactment of a law becomes meaningless if there is no budget for it,” he said.

“Ensuring that laws and funding match is a joint responsibility of government, meaning the Congress and the executive branch itself,” he added.

Escudero said earmarking would be a good way of ensuring that laws serve the purpose for which these were created since the funding does not need to pass through the DBM or the need for funds to first go to the national treasury before these are released to a particular undertaking.

He cited as example the assigning of funds raised from the sin tax amendment law or income coming from the state corporations such as those raised from gaming operations of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) to particular expenses.

Under Pagcor’ charter, five percent of the state gaming firm’s income is earmarked for the Philippine Sports Commission.

Escudero also explained that under PD 1177, the President has the power over the budget to decide which items to fund and which items not to fund.

“We do not have a provision in the Constitution, which requires laws to be funded on a first-come, first-served basis,” said the senator.

“Nobody should be lulled by the comfort of believing that simply because we amend the law and say that funding should be automatically appropriated, it will already be released by the DBM,” he further explained.

The only items that are automatically appropriated, Escudero said, would be a debt servicing and the Internal Revenue Allotment under the Local Government Code and the budget for constitutional commissions.