Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the Aquino administration is now looking for ways to ensure line government agencies would no longer underspend this year, a factor that contributed to the low growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter of last year.
He said the new measures to ensure underspending would no longer happen this year are being discussed in the Cabinet, in light of the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
The SC has affirmed its decision declaring DAP as unconstitutional, including the provisions that allowed the withdrawal of unobligated allotments from implementing agencies and their use as savings before the end of the fiscal year, as well as the transfers of savings of the Executive Department to augment funds outside of the Legislative Department.
The Court also upheld the unconstitutionality of the use of unprogrammed funds despite the absence of the National Treasurer’s certification that the revenue collections exceeded the revenue targets. The voiding of this process under DAP is being blamed for the underspending of the government last year, which, in turn, is a factor in the low GDP growth during the third quarter at a measly 5.3 percent.
Government spending during the fourth quarter picked up, partly due to the releases of bonuses to government employees, bringing the full-year GDP growth to 6.1 percent, but still lower than the projected 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent.
Abad said that for 2015, underspending will no longer be tolerated, notwithstanding the unconstitutionality of DAP, because the government will come up with other sanctions that will make sure the line agencies will spend the money allocated to them.