2014 budget innovation speeds up projects, cuts red tape–Drilon

Senate President Franklin Drilon INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – An innovation that may speed up the implementation of government projects and help cut bureaucratic red tape was introduced in the proposed P2.268 trillion budget for 2014, Senate President  Franklin Drilon said on Tuesday.

Drilon called this new feature in the budget as “budget-as-a-release document regime,” which means that the funds of agencies are considered released to them as soon as the national budget is enacted.

Under this new system, government agencies will be allowed  to proceed with implementing their projects on the first day of the year sans submission of Agency Budget Matrices (ABMs) and request for release of Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs).

SAROs and ABMs are documents that authorize the agency to enter into an obligation or commitment.

“On the first day of the year, the approved national budget will be enough to authorize all government agencies to obligate their budget without needing to submit budget matrices, which takes considerable time of about two months before agencies could actually submit them,” Drilon, who chaired the Senate  committee on finance during the last Congress,  said in a statement.

“That one or two months being spent by agencies in preparing these documentary requirements could have been spent in the actual implementation of important programs such as the building of classrooms, health centers, or provision of medicines to our elderly,” he said.

Once in place, Drilon said, the new system could help cut red tape and ease and speed-up the processes securing a really early delivery of much-needed programs and services.

But he said there would still be minimal items in the budget that would require clearance from proper authorities which may include, among others, intelligence and lump-sum funds.

“Whenever we would ask agencies to explain why there are delays in the implementation of their programs, they would pass the blame to budget department, making it their scapegoat. The DBM did not release us funds. The SARO is released late,” the  Senate leader lamented.

But with the new system,  he said, the agencies no longer have no one to blame but themselves if they still failed to implement their programs and promptly deliver services to the people.

Drilon also encouraged agencies to proceed with the bidding process, short of award, while the budget is still being deliberated.

“So that once it is approved, they can already obligate their budgets,’  he added.