Cash-based budgeting goes against ‘Build, Build, Build’

Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles (Photo from his Facebook account)

From “Build, Build, Build” to “Slash, Slash, Slash.”

Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles on Friday insisted that the cash-based appropriations adopted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in crafting Malacañang’s proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019 negated President Duterte’s efforts to spur the economy by accelerating government spending.

Nograles, chair of the powerful appropriations committee, also clarified that the clamor against the DBM’s new budgeting system did not come from members of the House of Representatives, but from the executives of state agencies whose allocations for next year had been dramatically decreased.

Obligations-based budget

He said he had spoken with a representative of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and relayed the sentiments of the lawmakers, who crossed party lines in signing a manifesto urging the DBM to revert to obligations-based budgeting.

“We feel that the cash-based budget is going in the opposite direction and contrary to the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program of President Duterte,” Nograles said.

“All these budget cuts (only made) the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program ‘Slash, Slash, Slash’ instead,” he added.

Within the fiscal year

Under the cash-based appropriations, state agencies have to use their approved budgets within the fiscal year, or else lose them.

On the other hand, the traditional obligation-based budget authorized budget spending within a two-year period.

By using a cash-based approach in lieu of the obligations-based budgeting, Nograles said the DBM lowered the capital outlay and other infrastructure funds of several state agencies, such as the Department of Education and the Department of Health.

He said that even the funds earmarked for the implementation of the law mandating free college education in state colleges and universities were slashed.