SEN. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara yesterday said the “double to quintuple appropriations” in the 2023 General Appropriations Act and the 2024 proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP) are errors in the posting of entries by government agencies.
Angara, who is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, told an interview with radio dzBB that members of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) have already told senators during a previous budget hearing that government agencies are still using old computer software that have no ability to “trace” double entries.
He said the repeated entries were already questioned by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano even before former Sen. Panfilo Lacson aired his concern over what he said were “bloated” appropriations in last year’s budget and next year’s proposed budget.
Angara mentioned a P2 billion “duplicate” item in the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The “unspent” amount will revert to the National Treasury, he added.
“And this year kahit wala si Sen. Lacson for 2023, naaalala ko, binanggit po ‘yan ni Sen. Alan Cayetano. Binusisi niya at sabi niya may mga double entry. Kaya pinatanggal namin dati sa DPWH and yet, despite that, may around, approximately around P2 billion worth of projects na parang duplicate item. At ang nangyari, may P2 billion na hindi nagastos. Bale, magre-revert ‘yun sa national treasury (This year, even if Sen. Lacson is not around, I remember that this was mentioned by Sen. Alan Cayetano. He scrutinized [the proposed budget] and he said that there were double entries. So, we had them removed from the Department of Public Works and Highways and yet, despite that, there are still approximately around P2 billion worth of projects that are like duplicate items (which) were not spent. This will revert to the national treasury),” said Angara.
Lacson had earlier said flagged the Marcos administration’s bloated 2023 and proposed 2024 national budgets, pointing out these have “double, triple, quadruple, and quintuple” appropriations for 71 government projects.
Lacson said 45 projects in the 2023 national budget and 26 items in the 2024 NEP have “excessively, unreasonably, unnecessarily, and unconscionably bloating fund allocations in the range of 109 percent to 328 percent.”
Angara said the bloated appropriations were discussed in passing during the DBCC briefings and senators have already told government agencies to get a computer software update to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
He said government agencies that have duplicate entries in their proposed budgets will be asked to explain the added appropriations when the Senate tackles their respective budgets in the plenary.
“Sabi ko nga ang mga bata na gumagawa ng term paper ay nate-trace nila kung may double entry doon sa kanilang term paper o thesis eh bakit sa gobyerno na ang pinag-uusapan ay salapi na napakahalagang bagay, hindi nagagawa ‘yan (I said students can trace if there are double entries in their term papers or thesis. Why can the government not do that when we are talking of huge amounts of money?)” he said.
He said errors in the posted entries in the 2024 NEP can be fixed by Congress and budget managers.
Angara said the P50 million confidential funds requested by the Department of Agriculture (DA) for next year will be used by the agency’s fight against agricultural smuggling.
He said this is the first time the DA asked for confidential funds “in recent years.”
“Importante dahil kapag pinag-usapan ang agricultural smuggling, siguro baka hundreds of billions or tens of billions ang pinag-uusapan diyan. So, kung tutuusin, kung magiging instrument ito para sa pagsugpo sa agricultural smuggling, kung gagawin mo ang numero at mare-recover mo ‘yun, makikita natin, maybe over time, it might be a wise investment (That [confidential funds] is important because when we talk of agricultural smuggling, it involves hundreds of billions, tens of billions. If that will be instrumental in stopping agricultural smuggling, if you do the numbers and you will recover it, maybe over time, it might be a wise investment),” he said.
Likewise, Angara said Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio can best explain how she intends to spend the P150 million confidential funds for the Department of Education (DepEd), which she heads as concurrent secretary, amid observations that the amount should instead be used to address the classroom shortage in public schools.
“Siguro nasa secretary na ‘yun, ‘yung mga prayoridad ng administrasyon, kung saan nila gusto ilagay ‘yung pondo (It is up to the secretary to identify the administration’s priority, where they would like to spend the money),” he said.
The DepEd has said the confidential funds will be used to stop the campus recruitment of students by left-leaning groups.
Angara said if the DepEd’s program is gaining ground, lawmakers can at least decrease its confidential funds.
“Kung successful ‘yung program, na-re-reduce ‘yung insurgency, then maaaring, pwedeng gawan ng argumento (If the program is successful, the problems on insurgency is reduced, then we can argue on that),” he added.
