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News
October
13, 2009
Budget advocates support initiative of
Congress to raise funds for calamities
The Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI),
a consortium of 60 nongovernment
organizations globally acknowledged for
initiating legislature-civil society
partnership on the budget, supported the
House of Representatives’ joint
resolution authorizing the use of
unprogrammed funds for the proposed P12
billion calamity fund. The group also
called on Congress to tap the balances
of the 2009 budget and other
non-budgetary sources to finance the
calamity fund.
“The ABI and Social Watch Philippines
will support any initiative of the
legislature to identify additional
sources of funds for disasters without
having to resort to a supplemental
budget and increasing the deficit” said
former national treasurer Leonor
Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of
Social Watch Philippines (SWP) which
organized the ABI.
“The proposal to access P12 billion from
unprogrammed funds in the 2009 budget
means there is no need for a
supplemental budget. This will not
increase the deficit because it is
already in the 2009 budget. However, the
Lower House has to consider the special
provisions in the use of unprogrammed
funds in the 2009 budget,” Briones
added.
The ABI and SWP have been consistently
calling for the realignment of
unprogrammed funds to allocation for
services to the most vulnerable sectors.
“These are lump-sumps in nature, highly
discretionary, have no clear mechanisms
for accountability and have vague or
redundant purpose,” Briones explained.
“The President has been utilizing
unprogrammed funds for various purposes
in the past,” she added.
House Committee on Appropriations Chair
Junie Cua said the P12-billion in Joint
Resolution No. 48 was approved as
calamity fund instead of a supplemental
budget because the National Treasury
said it did not have funds for a
supplemental budget. Cua also said that
there was no sure source yet for the
proposed fund.
“If funds are not sufficient, the other
Special Purpose Funds (SPF) can be
opened to public scrutiny and
accountability. Unspent balances in the
SPF can be utilized as well. This is
exemplified by the Overall Savings,”
Briones said.
She explained that in 2008, President
Arroyo transferred P178 billion from
different agencies to Overall Savings.
On the other hand, a total of P38
billion was transferred from Overall
Savings to different agencies. This
resulted to a net transfer of P140
billion which are recorded as Unreleased
Appropriations.
Briones also said that non-budgetary
sources can be tapped to finance the
calamity fund. This includes the Motor
Vehicles Users’ Charge ( MVUC ) and
funds from revenue earning corporations
such as the Philippine Gaming
Corporation (Pagcor) .
“The MVUC receives income from car
registration three years in advance,
while part of Pagcor’s income goes
directly to the Presidential Social
Fund. The law requires that half of the
net income of Pagcor should be submitted
to the national government. These are
not included in the national budget and
should be reviewed by Congress,” Briones
said.
“ABI and SWP agree with Congress that
there is no need for a supplemental
budget. We can simply tap balances of
the 2009 budget as well as non-budgetary
sources to save millions of people from
calamities,” Briones stressed.
.
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