Senate tackles P2.6T budget as Escudero proposes new appropriations

Sen. Francis Escudero. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate on Tuesday began plenary debates   on the proposed  P2.606 trillion national budget for 2015 focusing on the proposed P19 billion increase for the government’s rehabilitation and reconstruction  program, among others.

Senator  Francis “Chiz” Escudero, chairman of the  Senate committee on finance, sponsored the budget bill on the floor in a privilege speech entitled: “ FY 2015 National Budget: Walking a Tightrope.”

“After conducting a series of budget hearings, technical working group meetings and consultations with the various agencies or departments, Mr. President, your committee on finance now proposes total New Appropriations of P1,862,824,653,000.00, the same level as the National Expenditure Program and the House-approved budget,” Escudero said.

“Realignments within and between agencies, however, amount to P91,821,325,000.00,  P37.921 billion from Programmed New Appropriations and P53.9 billion from Unprogrammed Appropriations,”   he said.

Among the  major budgetary increases made by the  committee, he said, are the following:

• Increase of P19 billion for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program to cover past disasters including     Yolanda, Glenda and Mario;
• Increase of P3.636 billion for the Department of Education, particularly for a  Feeding Program, the Quick Response Fund, and Chalk Allowance;
• Additional P816.229 million for the Philippine Crop Insurance Service which will now total P2 billion;
• Increase of P715.36 million for the Enterprise Information System Plan (IT for e-courts) of the Supreme Court.
• Increase of P500 million for the Quick Response Fund of the Department of Health;
• Increase of P421.5 million for the Bureau of Customs for Workplace Modernization and various equipment to counter the perennial problem of smuggling;
• Additional budget of P362.472 million for the Department of National Defense as Buildings Outlay for the National Defense College of the Philippines as well as for Force Sustainment or Enhancement of the various Engineering Brigades of the Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, and the Philippine Navy.
• Increase of P300 million for the Modernization Program and Faculty Development of the Philippine Normal University;
• Increase of P108.907 million for Jail Facilities under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to be sourced from the cut in Monitoring and Evaluation Cost of PAMANA and the Grassroots Participatory Program of the DILG-OSEC;
• Increase of P15 million for the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos for the Hajj Travel Assistance and Endowment Administration Services;

Escudero said  the  committee also realigned P2.670 billion under the Information and Communications Technology Office for Free Wifi Internet in public places, to be sourced from the Digitization Empowerment Program.

The committee, likewise, restored  the House cut on the budget  of the  Department of Public Works  and Highways amounting to P242.6 million under MFO 3  or “Maintenance and Construction Services of Other Infrastructures” as well as the P1.318 billion  cut under MFO 1 or “National Road Network Services, said the senator.

In addition, he said, the committee raised to P2 billion the DPWH’s budget  for its Quick Response Fund.

The P1 billion cut for the Philippine Children’s Medical Center particularly for Hospital Modernization was also restored by the committee.

Escudero  started  his speech talking  about the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which was  declared   constitutional by the  Supreme Court,  and the  Disbursement  Acceleration  Program  (DAP),  parts  of it were also declared  unconstitutional by the  high tribunal.

“Mr. President, distinguished colleagues … much has been said about the vaunted legislative power of the purse. Still a question begs to be asked — is such power of the purse a fact or a myth?  Does this power actually reside in the hands of Congress?  Why the veritable tug of war with the Executive branch for the privilege of holding the purse-strings?”

“And why the need for a tightrope balancing act in the execution of the FY 2015 national budget, particularly with respect to the Supreme Court decision on the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program?” he further  asked.

The SC’s landmark decision  on the  PDAF and DAP, he said,  will “significantly alter the  budget  landscape if Congress is to make the  2015 GAA compliant with  the Supreme Court decision.”

“After  all, this  controversial ruling upheld the legislative power of the  purse by clipping the  power of the President to unilaterally realign  savings in the national budget to any item, whether  in the executive, legislative, or judiciary, sans  any legislative  imprimatur,” said Escudero.

He said  adjustments will have to be made by Congress to “correct and  rectify  things” and certain processes will have to be implemented  to hasten and facilitate the  implementation  of projects without violating the  SC decision “and yet without impairing  the executive branch’s need for flexibility in the  budget execution  phase—just like  threading  a veritable tightrope, if I may say so.”

“If and when these adjustments   are  effected, Mr. President, only then can we perhaps say that the  legislative power of the purse is a myth no more,”  he said.

But  Escudero acknowledged that adhering to the  separation of powers of  the   three branches of government  where the infamous DAP is concerned  “is akin to a tightrope balancing act, for admittedly, the DAP has its advantages and  disadvantages.

“Despite being declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional and void with respect to four acts or practices, the program was, after all, instrumental in arresting our flagging economic growth by stimulating public spending radically through the national budget and allowing the Executive the needed spending flexibility in their day-to-day operations,” he said.

“Still the Constitution tells us emphatically that the power of the purse belongs to Congress.  It is hoped that with these proposed amendments in the Fiscal Year 2015 national budget, Congress will adhere to the ruling of the highest Court in the land and regain its Constitutionally-mandated control over the purse strings.”

“Indeed Mr. President, it’s either walking the tightrope or plunging to the depths of national despair, eroding the recent credit rating gains that have won us plaudits in the eyes of the international community,” Escudero added.