THE House of Representatives on Monday directed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to submit to the House Oversight Committee the budget ceilings of all government agencies under the 2020 national budget.
During an oversight committee hearing, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said this will prevent a repeat of the controversy over the P75 billion in the 2019 budget.
Arroyo said the DBM should furnish them the budget ceilings of the Tier 2 by June 2019.
Budget Acting Secretary Janet Abuel said the agency will give the budget ceilings as soon as possible, saying the deadline for each agency has been set on May 3, 2019.
According to Arroyo, it is important to determine budget ceilings under the Tier 2 of the budget to prevent the controversy created by the failure of the DBM to disclose the new budget ceiling of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to the House of Representatives during the budget deliberations last year.
“The controversy of the 2019 budget began with the ceiling issue, that’s why we need to know the ceiling now,” said Arroyo, as she recalled that when it “was presented to us in July 2019, the DPWH had a ceiling of less than P500 billion, but when the GAA came, it was almost 600 billion. That’s why we want to be clarified now. That’s something we want to avoid in this coming budget.”
She added that when the budget was presented to the House of Representatives last year, the DPWH said it had a budget ceiling of P482 billion.
However, when the National Expenditure Program (NEP) was printed and given to the lower chamber, the DPWH budget ceiling was actually higher by P75 billion.
The House moved for the itemization and equalization of the P75 billion to comply with the Constitution and the Supreme Court decision. However, the same items were vetoed by President Duterte, saying they were not part of the priority projects of the administration.
During the hearing, Speaker Arroyo asked when and who determined the increase in the ceiling. She was told by the DBM that the ceiling was known as early as June 2018 but admitted that “not everything was put on paper.”
Budget Undersecretary Tina Rose Marie Canda told the committee that the details in the increase in the budget were allegedly encoded in the DBM by the DPWH people.
Cash-based
MEANWHILE, Budget Assistant Secretary Rolando Toledo told the House that the total cash-based budget next is P4.1 trillion, 9.1 percent higher, or P343 billion more than the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019.
He said around 44.9 percent, or P1.843 trillion is provided for the Tier 1 or the ongoing programs/activities/projects of the different agencies.
Meanwhile, automatic appropriations, which include internal revenue allotment and net lending and special purpose funds, will account for 32.8 percent of the budget, or P1.346 trillion.
To cover Tier 2 or the expanded and new programs and projects, 22.2 percent or P911.6 billion will be set aside from the total cash-based budget ceiling.
Toledo said among the priority programs of the government for next year are infrastructure development and several critical programs such as the Universal Health Care Act, Bangsamoro Organic Law, Rice Tariffication Act, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Act, and Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.