The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will begin the implementation of the two-tier budgeting approach for the 2016 national budget that aims to monitor spending of government agencies in approved and ongoing projects to prevent fund misuse and corruption.
Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the new budgeting system is part of the efforts to plug the leaks of corruption and promote transparency and good governance in public spending.
The new budget scheme aims to conduct separate reviews for on-going/approved programs vis-à-vis new or expanded ones to give better focus on each type of program.
He said the Aquino administration is also heeding calls of various civil-society organizations to incorporate lesser number and magnitude of special purpose funds in the 2016 budget.
Former National Treasurer and Social Watch convener Prof. Leonor Briones earlier said that the DBM has embedded at least P46 billion in “pork barrel style” allocation to key spending agencies in the 2015 national budget that are prone to corruption and fund misuse.
At the same time, Briones also criticized this year’s P368.7 billion special purpose funds whose spending will not undergo government auditing and scrutiny. The biggest allocation worth P117.3 billion went to miscellaneous personnel benefits fund, a big leap from the P53.5 billion share from the 2014 national budget.
Estrella Torres