Gov't to adopt 'bottom-up' approach to 2013 budget preparation

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration said it would begin a “bottom-up” approach to the ongoing 2013 budget preparation process, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said over the weekend.

Abad said the move is in line with the government’s goal to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, dubbing it as a breakthrough in the national budget process.

“For the first time in our government’s history, we will be preparing the national budget using a breakthrough ‘bottom-up’ approach. In the past, the General Appropriations Act (GAA) was crafted from top to bottom, with state leaders and officials exclusively deciding where public funds should go,” Abad said.

The so-called bottom-up budgeting process would mean focusing on 300 to 400 of the poorest municipalities identified by the Cabinet’s Human Development and Poverty Reduction (HDPR) cluster.

Local-level engagement will be facilitated via relevant government agencies, local community leaders, LGUs, and partner civic organizations.

As part of the process, the DBM will invite an initial set of agencies to spearhead the new approach.

These agencies are the Rural Development agencies under the Departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, and Environment and Natural Resources; and Conditional Cash Transfer Program agencies such as the Departments of Social Welfare and Development, Education, and Health.

Abad said these agencies will combine their respective services in poor communities and incorporate these into their budget proposals for 2013.

“This new process may likewise require rural development and economic agencies to be responsible for achieving meso-economic indicators of inclusive growth – indicated, for instance, by a five percent reduction of average underemployment or hunger for the regions with the largest number of focus municipalities from 2013 to 2016,” Abad said.

The government hopes that with the bottom-up planning process, it would be able to ensure that the needs of the poor municipalities will be adequately funded in the 2013 budget.

“In the past, municipalities were required to submit public investment programs (PIPs) for the consideration of the regional development councils (RDCs) and for inclusion in line-agency budgets,” Abad said.