Proposed P5 trillion national budget submitted to Congress

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted yesterday to both chambers of Congress the proposed P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022 that lawmakers vowed to pass before the end of the year.

DBM Undersecretary Janet Abuel turned over to Senate President Vicente Sotto III the three-volume National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2022 that needs to be approved by Congress and enacted into law before yearend to avert the possibility of the government running on a reenacted budget next year.

A reenacted budget is prone to corruption especially in an election year, according to critics.

“We’ll discuss with our colleagues but usually early September, we already start our budget briefings,” Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate finance committee, said when asked by reporters when the hearings on the NEP will start.

The budget bill has to emanate from the House of Representatives but the Senate – to save time – starts its own hearings on the NEP but holds off coming out with its version until after the other chamber formally submits the money measure.

Sen. Grace Poe last week warned the proposed national budget would face intense scrutiny in the Senate following numerous reports of mishandling and even irregularities in the handling of billions in COVID-19 funds across government agencies.

She was referring to reports from the Commission on Audit (COA) on mishandling of funds meant for the procurement of critical medical equipment or for delivery of aid to those hard-hit by the pandemic.

“We assure a thorough scrutiny of the proposed budget when it reaches the Senate. Underspending, delayed and wasteful spending of COVID-19 response fund must have no room in the 2022 budget,” she said.

“Rebooting an economy dampened by the virus calls for vibrant spending up to the last peso authorized by the law,” she said.

She maintained that budget unspent means services undelivered, especially to the poor in dire need amid the pandemic.

“At a time when our people are more reliant than ever on the provision of essential services, government disposition of funds should be efficient, on-target and prompt,” she said.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Angara, in separate statements last week, said they would carefully study the request of the government for an addition P240 billion in 2022 as COVID-19 fund given the massive underspending of the Department of Health (DOH) and other agencies.

“We’ll ask for many more bright ideas from them on how they intend to spend it, considering the kind of expenditure reports we’re getting,” Sotto said.

Angara said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III in the previous years had always asked for a higher budget. “But it turns out they’ve not been spending all of them,” Angara said.

Issues of bureaucracy

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, resigned as vice chairman of the Senate committee on finance so he could focus on scrutinizing the proposed budget.

“I am in receipt of a letter from Sen. Ping Lacson, and he is resigning as vice chairman of the Senate committee on finance, saying that the position that he’s taking will give more time for him to focus and commit himself to the scrutiny of the 2022 proposed budget,” Sotto said.

Reading Lacson’s letter, Sotto mentioned “the most pressing issues of government bureaucracy today because of the unprecedented advent of red flags raised by the annual audit reports of the COA, so on and so forth.”

Sotto referred the letter to Angara.

“But I am inclined to accept the resignation if you have no objections,” Sotto said.

Angara replied: “Mr. President, I’m caught a little by surprise with this development but I will defer to your recommendation. Of course, Sen. Lacson is a big loss to the committee on finance, I have to say.”

In his letter, Lacson said the COA’s red flags indicate the “blatant inefficiency, unconscionable incompetence and worse, probable misuse and abuse of public funds in virtually the entire government.”

“I trust that it is to the greatest interest of our people to once and for all, ferret out the truth behind these reports, put value to the oft-ignored COA mandate and ensure that there will be no ‘sacred cows’ in making accountable those who have blundered the effective and proper use of public monies,” he said.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the chamber is ready to swiftly act on the proposed budget for 2022.

“This officially signals the start of the budget season in Congress or the legislative process of evaluation, debate and amendment which we hope could lead to the timely and decisive passage of the 2022 General Appropriations Act,” the Marinduque congressman said.

He also reassured the public that while the pandemic “drags on,” lawmakers will “swiftly pass a national budget that will not only serve as an instrument for development, but also as a powerful tool to decisively defeat COVID-19 and rebuild people’s lives and livelihoods.”

Majority Leader Martin Romualdez also gave his reassurance, saying the national budget for 2022 would “pave the way to gain back the health and strength of our people as well as the vigor of our economy.”

“It is a wise policy to craft an expenditure program that puts premium on the health sector, which is allocated a proposed budget of P252.4 billion next year,” the Leyte congressman said.

“Now that Congress has formally received the 2022 NEP, it is now the duty of your representatives to review the proposed budget to ensure that the people’s taxes will be spent fairly and equitably among regions,” he said.

“Rest assured that during the congressional review, our people’s interest in these challenging times will be our primordial concern.” – Delon Porcalla, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Elijah Felice Rosales