Gov’t critics say ’15 budget filled with lump-sums

DAVAO CITY—A close look at the proposed P2.6-trillion national budget for next year would reveal what government critics said were alarming signs that public funds would be used to influence the results of the 2016 national elections in favor of those who are now in power.

A former ranking member of the House appropriations committee, the key legislative body that scrutinizes the budget every year, said he found it alarming that out of the P2.6 trillion proposed national budget, only P1.7 trillion are for detailed programs and projects.

The rest of the amount, according to former appropriations committee vice chair Bienvenido Abante, are marked as “automatic appropriations” which Congress could not scrutinize.

Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

Rep. Neri Colmenares, of the party-list group Bayan Muna, said several provisions in the proposed budget law are open to abuse by politicians allied with the administration.

One such provision, Colmenares said, would give P15 million to each town and P50 million to each city for purportedly El Niño mitigation

measures.

Colmenares said the timing of the allocation is suspect since the budget law would have been in effect long after El Niño had been felt, which the weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) predicted would strike between September to November this year.

“We hope that the El Niño phenomenon and our farmers would not be used as a cover for another Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) in the making,” he said.

Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas had urged local government units to avail themselves of the El Niño mitigation funds.

“The government might put one over us next year and our country cannot take another DAP controversy,” said the group Bayan Mamamayan Abante Movement (BMAM), headed by former congressman Abante.

He said Congress should carefully go over the details of the proposed budget as lump-sums are “the executive’s traditional source of graft.”

“Keep in mind that the DAP was a lump-sum appropriation under the special purpose funds of the President which began in 2012, a year before the 2013 elections,” said Abante. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao