The Department of Budget and Management is pushing for a P23-billion supplemental budget to be filed along with the proposed P2.606-trillion national budget for 2015 to fast-track infrastructure projects for post-Yolanda rehabilitation and Manila’s hosting of the 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.
Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said a portion of the proposed supplemental budget, amounting to P6.93 billion, will cover liabilities arising from obligated infrastructure projects and projects under government agencies that were originally funded by the outlawed Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Disbursement Acceleration Program that were both declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
He said these obligated infrastructure projects include the P1.85 billion under the Department
of Public Works and Highways, as well as the P5.08 billion that were supposed to fund a number of priority projects under various government agencies. The funds will account for the budgetary requirements of priority projects that were partially implemented or previously approved for implementation this year.
“Most of these projects have already been completed, are ongoing, or are urgently needed to sustain our socioeconomic development. The passage of the proposed supplemental budget will allow us to allocate funds accordingly so we can complete these projects right away,” Abad said in a news statement
released on Wednesday.
The budget chief said a total of P16.4 billion out of the proposed supplemental budget have been earmarked for new priority initiatives. Of this amount, the administration’s Yolanda reconstruction and rehabilitation program will get P9.5 billion. Another P1.44 billion will support key projects in preparation for the Apec summit, which the Philippines will be hosting next year.
“The National Treasury has already certified the availability of funds to support these projects but these appropriations must, likewise, be supported by proper legislation. With the proposed 2015 national budget already subject to Senate deliberations, we need the support of the House of Representatives to pass a supplemental appropriations bill to fund these projects,” Abad said.
The proposed 2014 supplemental appropriations also aims to fund a number of priority projects, ranging from the rehabilitation of the Light Railway Transit Lines 1 and 2, to the construction of permanent housing for the victims of Yolanda, Abad said.
(With PNA)