Palace keeps 45% of budget hidden from House scrutiny

ADMINISTRATION critics on Wednesday slammed Malacañang for deliberately hiding P711.5 billion or 45 percent of the 2011 national budget from congressional scrutiny.

President Benigno Aquino III submitted only a “partial national budget” to Congress that reflected P933.5 billion in allotments, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman told reporters.

The National Expenditure Program from Malacañang did not include P711.5 billion representing automatic, continuing, and other appropriations, including internal revenue allotments, net lending and tax refunds.

“The Palace is trying to demean the power of Congress and is depriving us the right to scrutinize its expenditures by hiding from us the details of the budget,” Lagman said.

“They admitted it was deliberate.”

Lagman said this was the first time that the Palace, under Mr. Aquino, had submitted a partial budget as all previous administrations had provided Congress with the full details of their projects and programs.

Lagman confronted Budget Secretary Florencio Abad about the missing particulars, particularly where the administration would get P711.5 billion, during a budget hearing at the House committee on appropriations.

“While the budget message of the President and the budget of expenditures and sources of financing would present a total [appropriation] of P1.645 trillion, what is presented here is the new general appropriation amounting to only P933.5 billion. May we know the reason for this change or what you called reform?” Lagman asked Abad.

Abad replied that he felt the Palace had complied with constitutional requirements to submit the general appropriations bill within 30 days of the opening of Congress. But Lagman chided him for not submitting the details of the automatic and continuing appropriations, even though existing laws allowed their funding.

Abad said the administration wanted to avoid what Congress did in the 2010 budget, which was to cut automatic appropriations and move the funds over to the general appropriations. That, he said, would force the Palace to either cut programs or raise more funds, which would go against the President’s orders to reduce the budget deficit.

Lagman said this was unacceptable because there were conditions under which Congress could ban automatic appropriations.

He also said the document submitted by the Palace did not reflect “the real ceiling” of the spending plan and demanded that the Palace rectify its error.

Committee chairman and Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya said the panel would coordinate with the Palace on Lagman’s requirement.

In his testimony before the House, Abad said education, public health, social protection, housing and land distribution for the poor and other social services would receive P560.8 billion or 34.1 percent of the budget.

Under the proposed budget, the Department of Education will get the largest allocation of P206.2 billion, followed by Public Works and Highways, P110.6 billion; National Defense, P104.6 billion; the Armed Forces of the Philippines, P89.8 billion; Interior and Local Government, P88.1 billion; Agriculture, P37.6 billion; Social Welfare and Development, P34.2 billion; Health, P33.3 billion; Transportation and Communications, P32.3 billion; state universities and colleges, P23.4 billion; Agrarian Reform, P16.7 billion; the Judiciary, P14.3 billion; the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, P13.8 billion; Environment and Natural Resources, P13 billion; Finance, P12.2 billion; the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, P11.8 billion; Foreign Affairs, P11.1 billion; Congress, P7.7 billion; Justice, P7.6 billion; Labor and Employment, P6.4 billion; Science and Technology, P6 billion; the Commission on Audit, P4.4 billion; the Office of the President, P4.1 billion; Trade and Industry, P2.5 billion; the Commission on Elections, P2.3 billion; the National Economic and Development Authority, P2.1 billion; Tourism, P1.4 billion; Energy, P1.3 billion; and the Office of the Ombudsman, P1.1 billion.

The Department of Budget and Management will get P780.88 million; the Commission on Human Rights, P285.466 million; and the Office of the Vice President, P179.8 million.

Other executive offices account for P5.8 billion.

Christine Herrera, Manila Standard Today