THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P3.491 trillion, or 95.3 percent of the P3.662-trillion 2019 budget as of end-September.
In a statement on Tuesday, the DBM said the immediate release of funds will ensure that the national government agencies can swiftly implement their programs and projects, such as the construction of new roads, schools, and hospitals, and the protection and promotion of welfare of the poor and marginalized sectors, among others.
Broken down, allotment releases to the line departments amounted to P2.011 trillion from January to September. These included funds allocated for agencies in the three branches of government, as well as other constitutional offices.
At the same time, releases from Special Purpose Funds reached a total of P317.882 billion.
Special Purpose Funds are budgetary allocations in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) allocated for socioeconomic purposes, such as Budgetary Support to Government Corporations, Allocation to Local Government Units, Contingent Fund, Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund, as well as Pension and Gratuity Fund.
Meanwhile, allotment releases for automatic appropriations— those programmed annually or for some other period prescribed by law—increased to P1.070 trillion, making up 99.9 percent of the program for automatic appropriations.
The automatic appropriations include 100 percent of the following: FY 2019 program for the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of local government units, Pension of Ex-President/Ex-President Widows, Net Lending, Interest Payments, and Tax Expenditures Fund/Customs Duties and Taxes.
Aside from this, P50.254 billion in payments for the Retirement and Life Insurance Premium requirements was released, inclusive of P3.09 billion pertaining to additional requirements for newly created or newly filled positions in various agencies, resulting in a 106.6 percent release for the category.
Moreover, other releases by DBM, such as continuing appropriations of the 2018 GAA for line departments and releases from SPFs, amounted to P25.043 billion. Continuing appropriations refer to appropriations available to support obligations for a specified purpose or project, such as multiyear construction projects which require the incurrence of obligations beyond fiscal year.
A total of P40.481
billion was released for unprogrammed appropriation—standby appropriations that
authorize additional agency expenditures for priority programs and projects
when revenue collections exceed the resource targets or when additional grants
or foreign funds are
generated.
Lastly, the released allotments for other automatic appropriations amounted to P25.766 billion.