Senate panel seeks return of P881M in agriculture funds for irrigation projects

MANILA, Philippines — A panel in the Senate has sought the restoration of P881 million budget of the Department of Agriculture for its irrigation projects.

The fund was slashed by the House of Representatives when it tackled the proposed P1.816 national budget for 2012.

“Your committee supports the Aquino administration’s program of achieving self-sufficiency in rice by 2013. Thus, your committee recommend that this chamber restore the P811 million in irrigation projects which was cut and deleted by the House of Representatives under the budget of the Department of Agriculture,” Senator Franklin Drilon, chairman of the committee on finance, when he endorsed the approval of the 2012 budget on Tuesday.

Drilon said his committee also rejected the additional P300 million budget that the House has approved for the Department of Justice for its Justice System Infrastructure Program (P200 million) and construction of a DOJ building (P100 million).

Instead, the finance committee recommended a cut of P33 million budget for a National Justice Information System program.

“However, your committee recommend that the DOJ prosecutors be allowed the use of income derived from filing fees paid by the parties in cases pending in the DOJ,” said the senator.

The committee also slashed by P100.943 million the allocation for discretionary funds for the governor and vice-governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), citing the extent of corruption allegedly committed in the region.

A proposed budget cut of P37.532 million for feasibility studies of the Southern Philippines Development Authority because of its failure to exercise its mandate was also recommended by the committee.

The committee likewise supported the House’s move to to transfer P100 million from the intelligence funds of the President to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Meanwhile, the committee endorsed a P100-million funding for the Governance Commission for Government-owned or -controlled Corporations (GCG), which was tasked to review state firms.