Infrastructure, social programs get bulk of unprogrammed 2023 funds

MANILA, Philippines — Infrastructure, particularly transport projects, and social programs will get the chunk of the unprogrammed appropriations under the proposed 2023 budget as the government maintained no irregularities in allocating such funds.

During a press briefing in Malacañang yesterday, Budget chief Amenah Pangandanman defended the unprogrammed funds worth P588.1 billion under the record P5.268-trillion national budget for next year.

This, as lawmakers questioned the Department of Budget and Management on the unprogrammed appropriations as budget deliberations began at the House of Representatives.

“These (unprogrammed) funds are itemized for transparency for everyone,” Pangandaman said.

Unprogrammed funds, which are a form of standby appropriations, can be triggered when excess revenues are not generated and an item of appropriations is found to be deficient or even non-existent.

Based on the breakdown provided by DBM, 64.6 percent or P380 billion will go to foreign-assisted projects. Of this, P378.2 billion will be for the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the remaining P2.2 billion for the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The DBM explained that all loan proceeds under the DOTr were transferred to the unprogrammed appropriation due to the agency’s history of low absorptive capacity insofar as loan proceeds are concerned.

Another huge chunk or P149.6 billion, which is roughly 25 percent of unprogrammed funds, has been allocated for infrastructure projects and social programs, including the procurement of additional COVID vaccines.

Some P20.6 billion is earmarked for budgetary support to government-owned and controlled corporations while P18.9 billion is for public health emergency benefits and allowances for health and non-health care workers.

Another P10 billion is allocated for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas equity infusion.

The rest are for the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program (P5 billion), payment of arrears of Land Transportation Service (P2 billion), Risk Management Program (P1 billion), refund of the service development fee for the right to develop the Nampeidai property in Tokyo (P210.5 million), and local government unit shares (P14 million).

Pangandaman maintained that some previous projects that were funded by unprogrammed appropriations were the Libreng Sakay program, financial assistance for vulnerable groups due to price hikes, and the construction of clinics and other health services during the pandemic.

“This is for emergency purposes or for the identified projects that once we get extra revenues from the Department of Finance and our revenue generating agencies (Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Internal Revenue), it can trigger the release of such projects,” she said.

The DBM argued that unprogrammed funds are available resource cover that will trigger additional amounts for the national government, especially during calamities or unexpected situations.

Data showed that unprogrammed funds average between two to eight percent of the national budget from 2010 to 2022.