Senator wants government project ‘Sipsip’ reworded

MANILA, Philippines — “Sipsip,” a Tagalog word for a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage, hardly inspires confidence in a government project, according to a senator who urged officials of the executive department to reword it.

During the budget briefing of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) at the Senate yesterday, Sen. Loren Legarda said “SIPSIP” or support to infrastructure and social programs should be replaced with a positive word.

Legarda said the DBM communications experts should be creative and come up with a more palatable acronym for the program.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III asked DBM officials to itemize the budget similar to that of National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman named the support to infrastructure and social programs or “Sipsip.”

DBM Undersecretary Tina Rose Marie Canda said Sipsip is an unprogrammed fund to be sourced from excess revenue, a practice observed during the time of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

With the suggestion of Legarda to replace “sipsip,” Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, joked that a better word might be “higop,” another Tagalog work for sip.

Legarda said as the project is important, its name must be changed.