DBM to use contingent funds, savings to augment budget cuts

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THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) yesterday said it will tap savings, contingent funds and unprogrammed appropriations to bankroll the restoration of cuts and unfunded programs and projects in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

In a statement, the DBM said it is “committed to remedy the funding deficiencies of various departments for FY 2025, through appropriate measures.”

It said these measures include the modification of the allotment and use of government savings, contingent fund, and unprogrammed appropriations, among others, to augment deficient items.

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The use of such funds, it said, would be subject to the conditions and requirements prescribed in the Special and General Provisions of the GAA.

“To recall, earlier this month, the President instructed agencies to review, rationalize, and identify which programs, activities, and projects are within their priorities and ready for implementation, and those otherwise, which should be revisited and identified as possible savings so that they can be reprogrammed or reprioritized,” the DBM said

“We are one with the President in addressing the validated funding deficiencies. Nevertheless, it is understood that the process and procedures to be undertaken shall strictly adhere to budgeting, accounting, and auditing laws, rules and regulations,” it added.

Marcos and the economic cluster of the Cabinet had been meeting with the secretaries and officials of the different departments for the past weeks to discuss their budget and priority programs for the year following budget cuts made by lawmakers in the 2025 national budget.

Among others, the President has ordered DBM to restore the funding of some programs and projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Transportation, Department of Tourism, Department of Science and Technology and the Philippine National Police.

The DBM said that to finance their priority programs, agencies can use available allotments in their respective budgets that can be declared as savings, as defined in Sections 77 and 78 of the General Provisions of the 2025 GAA.

Section 77 defines savings as portions or balances of any released appropriations which have not been obligated due to completion, final discontinuance, or abandonment of a program, activity, or project.

It also says that agencies can use the balance of allocations for completed projects that did not use up their entire funding due to the implementation of measures resulting in improved systems and efficiencies, thus enabling an agency to meet and deliver the required or planned targets, programs, and services approved within the law at a lesser cost.

In likewise states that in cases that savings are declared due to the discontinuance or abandonment of a program or activity, the “discontinued or abandoned program, activity, or project shall no longer be proposed for funding in the next two fiscal years.”

On the other hand, Section 78 defines the “rules of augmentation” and the “acts of constitutional officers authorized to use savings in their respective appropriations to cover actual deficiencies in any existing item of appropriation within their respective offices in the current year.”

It defines deficiency as “an item of appropriation (that) may be a result of unforeseen modifications or adjustments in the program, activity, or project; or re-assessment in the use, prioritization, and/or distribution of resources.”

Asked if there are already savings and enough to cover the many projects and programs that the President wants restored, Budget Undersecretary Goddess Hope Libiran said the different agencies would still have to “review, rationalize and reprioritize” their projects and programs that were affected by congressional adjustments and changes to determine if they have and could declare some savings.

The DBM said the government could also tap the Contingent Fund to cover the funding requirements of new or urgent activities or projects of national government agencies, government-owned or controlled corporations and local government units that must be implemented or paid during the year.

Libiran said no agency has so far submitted any request to utilize the P13 billion contingent fund, which she said can only be used for “new or urgent projects, subject to approval of OP (Office of the President).”

The DBM said that for allocations for infrastructure programs and social programs under the SAGIP program that need to be restored, these would be covered by the Unprogrammed Appropriations but subject to conditions, including the availability of excess revenue, which must be certified by the Bureau of the Treasury.

Libiran said a supplemental budget has not been discussed among economic leaders to address funding issues in the GAA.

Meanwhile, senators yesterday belied the claims of Rep. Isidro Ungab and former President Rodrigo Duterte that the bicameral report on the 2025 budget contained blank items when it was submitted for ratification of the two houses of Congress.

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Senate President Francis Escudero said the GAA had no blank entries.

“Kumpleto ang batas na iyon, walang blangko, walang kulang at yung amount ay nagsusuma (That was complete, no blank entries, no incomplete information and the sum reflected is the total amount of the budget),” Escudero said in a press conference late Wednesday afternoon.

He said the document which he signed authorized the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Committee on Finance to make the necessary corrections in the budget bill approved by the bicameral panel.

“It was stated in the last paragraph of the bicam report that if there are discrepancies in the GAA and the bicameral conference report, the GAA will be the one to be followed,” he said in Filipino.

He said he does not have any idea what document Ungab was referring to.

Senators Risa Hontiveros and JV Ejercito also said that they did not see blank entries in the bicameral committee version of the national budget.

In an interview with GMA-7’s Unang Balita, Hontiveros said she does not believe that members of Congress will leave blank entries as what Duterte and Ungab claimed.

“Hindi naman ako makapaniwala na kahit aling Kongreso natin, pati yung amin ngayon, ay magpapasa ng isang panukalang batas o General Appropriations Act na may blank pa na linya (I cannot believe that any Congress, and even the present one, will pass a proposed measure like the General Appropriations Act with blank entries),” Hontiveros said.

“Wala akong nakitang blangko nung pinirmahan ang bicam report at nung bumoto kami ni Senator Koko ng ‘no’ sa GAA. Kasi kahit kumontra ako sa budget na yan in its final form ay hindi ako naniniwala na ipinasa yan ng Kongreso na may blank page pa (I did not see blank entries when I signed the bicam report and when I and Senator [Aquilino] Koko [Pimentel III] voted ‘no’ on the GAA. Even if I am against that budget measure in its final form, I don’t believe that Congress will pass it with blank pages),” she added.

Sen. Imee Marcos said there were two different documents being referred to.

“There are two different documents that they are referring to – one is the bicam report which has blank entries and incomplete data, the other was the GAA [General Appropriations Act] which has full of numbers and already complete and has no blank entries. What was surprising was the bicam report that was approved with blank amounts),” she said in a chance interview.

She said that was the reason why she delivered a privilege speech after she saw the bicam report, thinking that it will be fixed.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said he did not affix his signature on the blank bicam report which was circulated at the time.

“Wala akong pirma sa pinakakalat na blangko na bicam report. Walang familiar na signature ng senators. Wala din akong naaalalang napirmahan na may blangko (I did not sign the bicam report that was circulated. I did not see familiar signatures from senators. I also do not recall that I have signed any blank document),” he said.

Sen. Joel Villanueva also said he did not sign any blank document being circulated.

“I am not happy with the bicam report, I am not happy with the GAA, the law itself, so why would I lie in signing a blank committee report. I never signed a blank committee report,” he said. – With Raymond Africa

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