Former National Treasurer and Social Watch convener Prof. Leonor Magtolis-Briones has insisted that the proposed P2.606-trillion national budget “is not pork-free,” as P37.3 billion worth of lump sums, including assistance for victims of typhoons, are embedded in the budget allocation of key government agencies.
She said the proposed budget now under deliberations by the Bicameral Conference Committee contains an allocation similar to the abolished Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which was declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
Briones stressed these have been integrated as agency-budget allocation in the form of the PDAF.
She said the largest allocation in the agency-embedded lump sums, worth P18.3 billion, is in the agency budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways for its local infrastructure programs.
Briones said the second-biggest lump- sum allocation for an agency, worth P13.3 billion, was embedded in the agency budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The funds, she said, include the DSWD’s response to victims of disasters and natural calamities; protection for individuals and families in times of difficult circumstances; as well as sustainable livelihood programs for marginalized people.
She also said the Commission on Higher Education got P1.8 billion in PDAF-like lump sums to sustain the agency’s assistance and scholarship provisions for poor but deserving students.
Some P1.9-billion allocation of the Department of Labor and Employment will come from lump-sum funds in the proposed P2.606-trillion national budget, Briones added.
The funds will cover the labor department’s training, livelihood and enterprise development and capacity-building programs for youth, students, disabled workers and rural workers.
Briones also said the lump sums were also embedded in the agency budget of the Department of Health, worth P1.8 billion, for its assistance to indigent and poor patients, particularly on hospitalization needs.