Bicam OKs P2.26T nat’l budget

The bicameral conference committee on Tuesday passed a P2.264-trillion national budget bill, leaner with the deletion of P3.2-billion worth of pork barrel, but packed with more than P140-billion in lump sums for post-disaster rebuilding, calamity and quick-response funds, and related allocations.

“Both the Senate and the House of Representatives accepted amendments [in their respective versions]. Almost all the amendments, especially those involving the huge amounts are in connection with rehabilitation and preparedness for coming and expected calamities,” Sen. Francis Escudero told reporters after the bicameral conference.

The P3.2 billion represented the total amount of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of 15 senators and the pork barrel of Vice President Jejomar Binay that they gave up because of the controversy over the alleged plunder of pork barrel funds.

Nine senators asked that their PDAF allocations be aligned to fund certain programs instead of being outrightly deducted from the budget.

The P25.2 billion in PDAF of members of the House of Representatives was not part of the budget but the amount was distributed to the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Because of this move, House members could no longer fund scholarships, livelihood programs and medical assistance projects in their name using these funds.

But they were able to recommend specific infrastructure projects to be funded by the realigned pork under the DPWH. They were required to identify these projects before the budget approval so that these could be included in the appropriations bill as a line item.

The bicameral panel also formally adopted Senate amendments to the proposed General Appropriations Act for it to fully comply with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the PDAF was unconstitutional and to safeguard the remaining discretionary lump-sum items from systematic plunder.

The panel scrapped the lawmakers’ authority to provide funding for choice projects or programs after the national budget has been passed by Congress and enacted by the President.

It also removed the authority of lawmakers to intervene in the implementation of projects funded by the Classroom Building Fund under the Roxas Law, the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund and the proceeds of the excise tax on tobacco.

These multibillion-peso items may be considered pork barrel had the committee voted to retain the legislators’ discretion over these funds after the passage of the budget law.

Reportorial requirements

“[There are] special portions on reportorial requirements on the agencies when they use their funds, when they use their savings and realignment,” Escudero said when asked for safeguards for the lump-sum allocations, realigned funds and those given to nongovernment organizations (NGOs).

“As they say, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We don’t want a repeat of the things that happened this year,” Escudero said.

He was apparently referring to the P10-billion pork barrel scam that exposed how lawmakers’ PDAF allocations were converted into fat kickbacks after line agencies coursed the funds to dubious NGOs of alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Three senators—Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.—and dozens of others have been charged with plunder, malversation and graft in the Office of the Ombudsman because of their alleged involvement in the scam. They have denied any wrongdoing.

Status of income

The bicameral panel also adopted the Senate proposal requiring all agencies, including constitutional offices enjoying fiscal autonomy, to submit to the budget committees of both chambers of Congress annual reports on the status of income and use of off-budget items like the Malampaya Fund, incomes of hospitals and state universities and colleges, and the Judicial Development Fund.

The panel also accepted the Senate amendment requiring quarterly reports on the realignment of funds within agencies as well as the transfer of funds to other government agencies, NGOs, local government units, GOCCs (government-owned and -controlled corporations) or lump-sum funds.

The bicameral panel also adopted the Senate amendments that impose the harshest penalty for the misuse of lump-sum appropriations and that require agencies to submit line-item budgets to the appropriations panels of both chambers before they can draw from the lump-sum funds.

The panel also provided for stricter measures on NGOs receiving government funds. It adopted the proposal that the government agency from which funds were released to NGOs “shall remain accountable for the funds.”

The reportorial requirements included the submission of the reports to the Commission on Audit (COA) and their posting on the government agencies’ respective websites.

P100B for rehab

The House panel, chaired by Davao Rep. Isidro Ungab, accepted the Senate amendments, including the P100-billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation in areas hit by typhoons, the Central Visayas earthquake and the Zamboanga City siege.

The P100-billion rebuilding fund is divided into the P20-billion itemized allocation under the programmed funds, while the P80-billion are under the unprogrammed funds.

The House approved its version of the budget before Supertyphoon “Yolanda” struck on Nov. 8.

“We conditioned the P80 billion in the unprogrammed funds on the submission of rehabilitation plans. It can’t be without direction,” Escudero said.

“The P20 billion has been placed in departments such as line agencies like the DSWD, DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications), DPWH, DOH and there are also allocations to SUCs or state universities and colleges, and LGUs (local government units) so they can implement their own rehabilitation projects,” Escudero added.

Quick-response funds

There were also increases in the quick-response funds (QRFs) of certain departments, including a P1-billion provision for the QRF of the DOTC “to enable the immediate rehabilitation of crucial transportation facilities necessary to normalize the situation and living conditions of the people in disaster-stricken areas.”

From the P25.2 billion originally allotted for its PDAF, the House earlier set aside P2.66 billion for the Commission on Higher Education; P1.02 billion for the Department of Education; P3.69 billion for the Department of Health; P4.71 billion for the Department of Social Welfare and Development; P3.69 billion for the Department of Labor and Employment; and P9.65 billion for the DPWH.

The 2014 budget contains the various infrastructure projects that the lawmakers identified, and these consist of local roads and bridges, school buildings, multipurpose buildings and water supply systems.

This realignment of the pork barrel funds came before the Supreme Court shot down the long-entrenched pork barrel system as unconstitutional.

Ungab said the identification of projects by lawmakers under the DPWH did not run counter to the Supreme Court ruling. “Any intervention by lawmakers prior to the approval of the budget is allowed,” he said.

“That’s really the job of lawmakers, to scrutinize the budget and recommend projects they think are needed in their districts,” he added.

Warning

But militant lawmakers warned that the 2014 budget was still filled with pork barrel funds, mainly in the hands of the President.

“The pork barrel is alive and kicking in the 2014 budget. The hundreds of billions in lump sum for the President and his Cabinet certainly dwarfs the P25 billion PDAF,” said Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares.

The lump-sum funds under the President’s discretion include the Calamity Fund, Contingent Fund, the budgetary support to GOCCs, the school building program, the e-government fund, the feasibility studies fund, the pension and gratuity fund, and the international commitment fund.

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