The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is aiming to generate less than a hundred billion pesos in savings from its adoption of “economy measures” to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a message to the BusinessMirror, Budget Undersecretary Tina Rose Marie L. Canda said the maximum savings projection of the agency as a result of the belt-tightening measures would be between P50 billion and P70 billion.
While Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado confirmed that this is their initial projection on the amount of money that the move could save, the budget chief said he is not that optimistic that this figure would be met.
“Marami ang nanghihingi ng reconsideration at exemption at meron ding hindi pa nag-cocomply so kahit ’yung projection magiging suntok lang sa hangin ’yun,” he told the BusinessMirror.
Asked what we would be the reasonable amount that the DBM is expecting, Avisado said they would still need to consolidate all the reports of the agencies to determine the figure.
The budget department last month issued National Budget Circular 580 halting the release of 35 percent of programmed appropriations and, likewise, at least 10 percent of the total released allotments to covered entities for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and capital outlays (CO).
Several activities, such as the hiring of job orders, except those considered as frontliners, have also been stopped in order to partially generate funds for Covid-19.
MOOE refers to expenditures to support the operations of government agencies such as expenses for supplies and materials; transportation and travel; utilities (water, power, etc.) and equipment repairs, etc.
On the other hand, CO refers to appropriations for the purchase of goods and services, the benefits of which extend beyond the fiscal year and which add to the assets of the government, including investments in the capital stock of government-owned and -controlled corporations and their subsidiaries.
The DBM earlier set an April 30 deadline for agencies to identify unreleased funds for programs, activities and projects under fiscal year ( FY) 2019 continuing appropriations and the FY 2020 General Appropriations Act, which may already be discontinued, or may no longer be completed within the current fiscal year.
But Canda said “only a handful have submitted so we cannot, as yet, assess how much savings we have generated.”
“We will give them until May 15 since it’s not an easy thing to do, assessing what to discontinue,” she added.
Pressed whether there is a need for the DBM to issue a new circular on the deadline extension, she said: “No more. The implication is that their requests will not be acted upon.”
The DBM warned agencies in the national budget circular issued last month that failure to submit the required certification “shall be a ground for non-release of subsequent allotment requests until such certification is submitted, without prejudice to the sanctions provided under other provisions of existing laws.”
The budget department said it will use the documents submitted by the agencies as basis of their report to the President on the programs, projects, activities with unobligated allotments to be discontinued to fund government’s efforts against Covid-19.
Image credits: Bernard Testa