VICE President Sara Duterte is not insisting on keeping her huge confidential funds under the proposed P5.268 trillion national budget for 2023 and will defer to the wisdom of Congress in determining how much amount her office should receive for such purpose.
Davao de Oro Rep. Maria Carmen Zamora made the statement during the plenary deliberations on the Office of the Vice President’s proposed P2.3 billion budget for 2023 which has been gathering flak for being thrice higher than the annual budget of Duterte’s predecessor, former Vice President Leni Robredo.
The OVP budget has likewise been criticized for including P500 million in confidential funds, which Rep. Raoul Manuel (PL, Kabataan) called “vice presidential ‘pork’ masquerading as good governance projects.”
“The Honorable Vice President has just shared with me now that she’s saying, she defers to the decision of the majority of this honorable Congress,” Zamora told the plenary deliberations which was physically attended by the Vice President.
Zamora made the revelation during the interpellation of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, an opposition lawmaker, who asked if it is true that the Vice President does not want to forego even a single centavo of the amount.
Lagman thanked the Vice President for her commitment, saying he was asking questions to enlighten lawmakers “and not in disrespect of the second-highest official who was popularly elected.”
However, Lagman also said the Vice President “must heed the popular clamor on the reduction of her budget which is excessively huge compared to the previous budgets of the former vice presidents, particularly on the allocation of a P500 million confidential fund.”
Zamora noted that the OVP, in 2009, had a confidential fund of P6 million, P3 million in 2010, P6 million the following year and in 2012 and P9 million in the next, which Lagman said all pale in comparison to the amount that Duterte is asking for.
The OVP’s budget sponsor said the Vice President, being a staunch advocate of peace and order and national security, wants to complement the Office of the President in “ensuring a peaceful and secure nation.”
She said the Vice President intends to implement her programs using the confidential funds to help other agencies “in ensuring and achieving national security in the country.”
On Manuel’s questioning, Zamora confirmed that the proposed confidential fund is part of the OVP’s general budget for good governance programs, such as medical and burial assistance, Libreng Sakay, cash subsidy and others.
The 27-year-old Manuel, however, said keeping huge confidential funds is the opposite of the principle of good governance “which depends on principles of accountability and transparency.”
“Mahirap po na makapagsabi na tayo ay for good governance kung malaking part ng pondo natin ay nakakubli (It’ll be difficult for us to say that we’re for good governance when a huge part of our budget is hidden),” he said. “I believe na kung ‘yung pondo ng NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict) ay maituturing natin na ‘general’s pork,’ ang current na proposal naman ng OVP ay vice presidential pork cloaked in good governance (I believe that if the NTF-ELCAC can be considered the ‘general’s pork,’ the current proposal of the OVP is ‘vice presidential pork’ cloaked in good governance).”
Manuel also pounced on the OVP for the absence of a free COVID-19 testing and consultation program despite Duterte’s promise to continue some of Robredo’s programs that were proven beneficial to the public, like the Bayanihan E-Konsulta program.
“There are no COVID-19-related programs like testing, online consultation, assistance for vaccine distribution, community learning hubs, distance learning tools, and assistance to healthcare workers,” he said.
Zamora insisted that the country is now recovering from COVID-19 and should focus on livelihood programs and economic recovery, but Manuel pointed out that the positivity rate in the previous weeks has reached 14 percent.
RESTORE SUC
BUDGET CUTS
Camarines Sur Rep. Gabriel Bordado, an assistant minority leader, moved to restore the cuts in the proposed budgets of state universities and colleges (SUCs), the University of the Philippines (UP) System and the UP-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH).
“I am categorically and strongly calling for the restoration of the budget cuts of SUCs and the University of the Philippines, particularly the Philippine General Hospital, Madam Speaker,” Bordado told the plenary budget deliberations presided by Deputy Speaker Gloria Arroyo.
Under the 2023 general appropriations bill (GAB) which is based on the Executive’s National Expenditure Program (NEP), SUCs are given a budget of P93.08 billion, an amount which is P10.89 billion or 10.48 percent lower than this year’s P103.97 billion budget.
Bordado’s motion would also restore cuts in the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) of SUCs which suffered the most because of the lower budget for next year.
The Executive has also slashed by P2.5 billion the proposed budget for the UP system, and another P893 million from the proposed budget of the UP-PGH.
The UP System has a proposed budget of P23.10 billion for 2023 under the NEP, an amount which is lower than this year’s P25.6 billion budget.
The education sector will only receive a total of P852.8 billion covering the Department of Education, SUCs, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Bordado’s move to restore the budgets of the SUCS, the UP System and the UP-PGH was supported by budget sponsor Cebu Rep. Peter John Calderon, prompting Bordado to say: “Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, Mr. Sponsor. So, we will do everything to restore the budget cuts of the SUCs particularly the UP-PGH.”
The House can move to restore the budget cuts when the plenary deliberations enter the period of amendments.
“The 1987 constitution mandates that the education sector should be given the highest budget priority and while we can say that the Department of Education has an increased budget but the budget for tertiary education has been suffering reductions,” Bordado said, asking another sponsor, Surigao Rep. Francisco Jose Matugas II, if he agrees with the Executive’s move.
Matugas said he disagrees with the “drastic” budget reductions done by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) “and in fact, all the SUCs are requesting that their budget be augmented for Fiscal Year 2023.”
“This representation is one with them and all of us five sponsors of the different SUCs are one with the SUCs in asking the help of this August body to augment their budget for FY 2023 so that they can perform their mandate to provide quality education to all our students,” he said.
