THE Philippine government will have to borrow as much as P6.7 billion daily or P2.46 trillion for the whole fiscal year to finance the President Marcos Jr.’s proposed P5.767 trillion national budget for 2024, Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto said yesterday.
Recto, a former Senate President Pro Tempore, said the proposed P5.767 trillion budget translates to average daily spending of P15.8 billion, but only P11.7 billion is supportable by revenues, leaving a P4 billion hole “which must be plugged by debt.”
He said this is why gross borrowings next year to finance the deficit, debt and development has been forecasted to reach P2.46 trillion, or about P6.7 billion daily.
“To fully grasp the dimensions of the budget, you have to compute it on a daily basis, to fully appreciate the enormity of both spending and borrowings,” Recto said. “In easy to remember figures, this is the lowdown: Gagasta ng P15.8 billion bawat araw. Ngunit P11.7 billion lang ang kayang pondohan ng buwis. Kaya may P4 bilyon na dapat utangin. Kada 24 oras (We’ll spend P15.8 billion daily but taxes can only fund P11.7 billion that’s why P4 billion will be borrowed. Every 24 hours).”
Recto said that while the “art of budget marketing perfected by all governments” focuses on what will be spent, “what is downplayed is the enormous money required to finance it.”
“Programs that dazzle are highlighted while muting the cost, a great portion of which are paid by debts left to the next generation to pay,” said the administration lawmaker.
Payment for interest alone on the burgeoning public debt will be around P1.8 billion a day next year, he noted.
“But it doesn’t give the whole picture kasi pambayad lang sa interest ang nasa national budget (because only interest payment is in the national budget). ‘Yung bayad sa principal, ‘yung amortization, na automatically appropriated, hindi kasama sa national budget (The payment for the principal, the amortization which is automatically appropriated, are not in the budget),” Recto said.
However, if the principal amortization requirement of P3.4 billion a day is added to the interest payment of P1.83 billion, “real” debt service expenditures would be around P5.2 billion daily, Recto said.
“’Yan lang ang bayad sa utang, hiwalay ang uutangin (That only covers payment for debts, that excludes the amount to be borrowed)” Recto said, referring to the scheduled interest payments of P670 billion and P1.24 trillion in principal amortization in 2024.
The former Senate President Pro Tempore said that at almost P1.7 trillion annually, “Personal Services,” which is expense class term for the salary and other compensation of national government employees and pension of uniformed personnel “would come up to P4. 6 billion a day.”
But while government will be spending P15.8 billion a day, BIR and the Bureau of Customs are projected to only collect P8.3 billion and P2.7 billion daily respectively, or a combined P11.16 billion a day.
“In fact, ‘yung tinatayang arawan na koleksyon sa sales tax on goods na P1.7 billion, kulang pa sa P2.53 billion daily expenditures natin para sa sektor ng edukasyon (In fact, the estimated daily collection for sales tax on goods worth P1.7 billion is not even enough to pay our P2.53 billion daily expenditure for the education sector),” Recto said.
Because not all that will be appropriated will be disbursed, the deficit to be financed will be about P3.7 billion daily, Recto said.
INTEL FUNDS
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa said confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) in the annual expenditure program of the government are best given to government agencies which are directly involved in defense, security, and law enforcement matters.
Some P9.2 billion are earmarked as CIFs of various government agencies in the proposed 2024 National Expenditure Program, including P500 million for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P150 million for the Department of Education (DepEd).
“Lahat ng ahensiya na hindi naman involved sa defense, security, and reinforcement eh dapat doon na nila ibigay ‘yung kanilang intelligence fund, tanggalin at doon ilagay (All agencies not involved in defense, security, and reinforcement should be stripped of their intelligence funds so they can be realigned to those involved in such functions),” Dela Rosa said.
If scrapping such CIF shares cannot be done, he said the government should at least cut them so that the bulk of it will go to the proper agencies.
When asked if the DepEd, which is headed by Vice President Sara Duterte-Caprio, deserves to be given P150 million in confidential funds for next year, Dela Rosa said that if this is properly spent, then there is nothing wrong with it. The DepEd has said that it will use the confidential funds to ward off recruitment activities of left-leaning groups among students and teachers.
“Eh magagamit ‘yan para doon eh wala na ako complaint, okay na ako doon ibigay na ‘yan sa kanila…Justifiable ‘yan para sa akin (If that will be used for that purpose, I have no complaints. I am okay with that. Let us give it to them…That is justifiable as far as I am concerned),” he said, adding that this should be limited only to confidential funds.
He said the Office of the President, although not directly involved in defense, security, and law enforcement, deserves to get CIFs since he said it is the “final” agency which the people turn to in times of needs.
“Kailangan ng Pangulo ang pera na ‘yan kasi considering napaka tedious ng ating procurement law, nasa batas lahat dapat, at least mabibigyan ng leeway ang ating Pangulo na makapag-dispose siya ng pondo nang mabilisin na walang naba-violate na batas. Sayang naman ang Pangulo kung gawin natin siya inutil at hindi bigyan ng pondo. The buck stops at the President, suportahan natin. Tama lang na bigyan siya (The President needs the funds considering that our procurement laws are very tedious, that everything needs to be done by the book if you spend. This way, we will give the President leeway to quickly dispose funds without violating the law. We don’t want to be sorry for the President for making him inutile if we do not give him the funds. The buck stops at the President, then we should support him. It is just right to give him that),” he added.
He said the same goes to the OVP.
“Pero ‘yung mga ibang ahensiya na hindi dapat mabiygan, ‘yun ang pinag iisipan kong tanungin na bakit itong nangangailangan ay hindi bibigyan at itong hindi namang nangangailangan ay binibigyan. According to needs, kailangan ba talaga nila ‘yan intelligence fund na ‘yan kung ikaw ay Department of Agriculture? (But the other agencies which do not deserve to be given, I will ask [during the budget deliberation] why can we not give [their CIFs] to deserving agencies. This must be according to needs. Do they really need intelligence funds in the Department of Agriculture?)” Dela Rosa said.
He said agencies which need additional funds should ask for more during the budget deliberations and not cloak as confidential funds for transparency.
“Sa military, lahat ng involved sa defense, not only the military but also the intelligence community, mga uniformed agencies involved sa defense and security eh sila ang i-priority (We should prioritize the military, all those involved in defense, and also the intelligence community, the uniformed agencies involved in defense and security),” he stressed.
Dela Rosa vowed to thoroughly examine the activities of civilian agencies which have requested confidential funds, and if justified, he will give his approval to them. — With Raymond Africa
