P2.4-T ‘special purpose funds’ next for scrutiny

A Makabayan lawmaker is pushing for a closer scrutiny of the Marcos administration’s request for P2.398 trillion in special purpose funds (SPF) in the proposed 2024 national budget, warning that this might be the “largest presidential pork barrel in Philippine history” if it is approved by Congress.

“With almost 41 percent of the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget under President Marcos’ discretion, it must be closely scrutinized. The fast-tracked budget briefings now being held in Congress would not suffice,” House Deputy Minority Leader Rep. France Castro said in a message to the Inquirer on Tuesday night.

She noted that such a hefty amount might end up as “presidential pork, that can be converted to the biggest confidential fund in our country.”

Castro made the remarks after the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) of the House of Representatives released a report on the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) showing that the government sought P2.398 trillion in special purpose funds or 41 percent of the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024.

“For 2024, the budget allocation for SPFs amounts to a total of P2,398.6 billion. This is 17.9-percent higher than the 2023 programmed level of P2,033.7 billion,” the House think tank said.

The CPBRD said SPFs are additional allocations to the budgets of recipient departments or agencies, which “have not yet been identified during the budget preparation,” to be released during the year covered by the NEP “as determined by special conditions.”

It noted that the SPF grew “much faster in recent years.”

In 2022, the SPF was at P1.817 trillion, or 35.1 percent of that year’s national budget of P5.17 trillion. This shot up to P2.033 trillion in 2023, or 38.6 percent of the 2023 national budget of P5.268 trillion.

Under the proposed 2024 NEP, the Marcos administration is also asking for P281.9 billion in unprogrammed funds, which may be accessed only when there are excess revenue collections, new revenues or approved loans for foreign-assisted projects.

Big chunk to LGUs

Castro expressed concern that the President “might allot this humongous budget as confidential funds to different national government agencies and even the Office of the Vice President.”

“We would do all we can so that this SPF would be allotted directly to departments and agencies that truly need them now, especially in social services,” she said.

A breakdown of the P2.398-trillion request for SPFs showed that P1.008 trillion or 42 percent are earmarked for local government units (LGUs)—P871.4 billion in national tax allotment shares, P16.6 billion for the local government support fund, and P80.6 billion for the Bangsamoro autonomous region.

The next biggest allocation amounts to P253.2 billion, or 10 percent of the SPF, which will go to the pension and gratuity fund, of which P129.8 billion is for the pension of military and uniformed personnel (MUP).

“Hefty spending through the annual General Appropriations Act for MUP pensions highlights the issue of the existing MUP pension system as a major source of fiscal strain on the national budget,” the House think tank said.

It noted that the government’s spending on pension grew from P63.5 billion in 2018 to P142.4 billion in 2024, which was 56.2 percent of the total allocation for the pension and gratuity fund.

“Since the current MUP pension scheme is noncontributory and automatically indexed to salaries of those in active service, spending for MUP pension is expected to exponentially increase, posing greater fiscal sustainability risks. It is crucial that MUP pension reform be enacted into law,” the CPBRD said.

Another P222.5 billion, or 9.3 percent of the SPF, will be set aside as budgetary support to six government corporations, the two biggest of which are the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (P101.5 billion) and the National Irrigation Administration (P41.3 billion).

On schedule

The House of Representatives is on target to begin plenary debates after a month of scrutinizing the proposed 2024 budget at the committee level.

House appropriations panel senior vice chair Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo said the plenary deliberations would begin on Sept. 18 and end on Sept. 27.

In an interview on Tuesday night, Quimbo said Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, the committee chair, was “very happy” that the panel met its deadline and that lawmakers were active in the discussions.

On Tuesday night, the House appropriations committee ended its deliberations on the proposed budget.

Quimbo said the 140-member panel would sit down on Thursday for an executive committee meeting to consolidate all amendments and recommendations, approve the committee report, and set a schedule for the plenary deliberations by Thursday.

During plenary deliberations, a lawmaker will sponsor a government agency’s proposed funding on the House plenary floor and will answer questions from fellow legislators on behalf of the agency’s officials.

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