THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has thumbed down a proposal to endorse to President Duterte the issuance of a directive for the immediate return of P33.3 billion “parked” in the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) so these can be realigned for urgent needs like the Covid-19 response.
Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado said on Sunday the DBM has no legal footing to endorse such a proposal for an EO. He told BusinessMirror he sent a letter last Friday to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III informing the latter that the “case of subject fund transfers,” which are considered trust liabilities by the PITC, is “more properly categorized as an implementation issue among agencies and the PITC, and not a budgetary concern.”
The divergence of views between the Department of Finance and of DBM could further complicate the issues surrounding the PITC, a little-know trading arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The PITC became controversial after senators—citing state auditors’ findings—said it is keeping P33.4 billion in idle funds from various government agencies’ procurement outlays in an apparent bid to skirt budget requirements to return monies to the Treasury when these remain unspent within the year.
In a message to BusinessMirror on Sunday, Avisado explained, “Once the funds are transferred by government agencies to PITC, they become part of the PITC corporate funds.”
Moreover, Avisado said he also noted in his reply to Dominguez that PITC is already a “self-sustaining government corporation,” as it no longer receives budgetary support from the DBM in terms of subsidy and equity.
He also pointed out that the case of trust liabilities, which is “outside the purview of the DBM,” may be best surpervised by the Department of Trade and Industry—the PITC’s mother agency—or the Department of Finance-Corporate Affairs Group (DOF-CAG).
“Organizationally, the PITC is attached to the DTI, with the DTI Secretary sitting as Chair of the PITC Board. Further, DOF-CAG oversees GOCC [government-owned and -controlled corporations] operations. Hence, the operational supervision may be best exercised by the DTI or the DOF-CAG, particularly in the case of trust liabilities which are outside the purview of the DBM,” he said.
Avisado added that the documents attached to the DOF letter also “do not provide information on the status of the transferred funds to the PITC, whether it is completed, ongoing or discontinued projects.”
The DBM chief said, “Only such funds held by the PITC, so determined, will qualify for purposes of withdrawal and subsequent reversion to the BTr [Bureau of the Treasury],” he said.
Sought to clarify whether Dominguez has already responded to his letter, Avisado surmised that the letter has yet to be received by Dominguez given that he was only able to sign it late Friday afternoon.