Civil society calls for release of other impounded funds to save people from disasters

SOCIAL WATCH PHILIPPINES

MEDIA RELEASE

October 9, 2009



Refer to: Leonor Magtolis Briones

Contact Nos. (+63 02) 4265626 / 4265632



DBM source of data on impounded funds

Civil society calls for release of other impounded funds to save people from disasters



The data on the P140 billion Overall Savings from impounded funds is based on documents supplied by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to Congress and the report of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the 2008 Appropriations.

Members of the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) reminded Malacanang officials about this when they expressed ignorance on the whereabouts of the P140 billion funds impounded by President Gloria Arroyo which can be partially used to increase the calamity fund instead of releasing a supplemental budget.

“The details on the overall savings are on pages 714 to 723 of the NEP 2010,” said former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines (SWP) which organized the ABI. “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. Presumably, this amount is carried over to 2009,” Briones added.

Briones also said that, instead of a supplemental budget that would only increase the country’s deficit, Malacanang can use the remaining balances in the Special Purpose Funds (SPFs) and accumulated savings which are handled by the Office of the President through the DBM. “We can look at the calamity fund and contingency fund, which are under SPF, to be able to respond to the disasters. Details on the calamity fund are on pages 669 to 671 of the NEP, while contingency fund details are on pages 672 to 673,” Briones said.

Meanwhile, Isagani Serrano, vice president of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) and one of the heads of the ABI-Environment Group, said that they are horrified by the response of Budget Chief Rolando Andaya that the said amount is an “amount only in paper”.

“We are talking about people’s hard-earned money here. They cannot just allocate public funds, impound it, and say that the amount is non-existent and just in paper,” Serrano said. “While it is true that the amounts are listed in paper, they are translated into cash once the President authorize the release of these budget items and the DBM process its release,” he said.

“Millions of Filipinos are already in harm’s way due to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Government should immediately use these impounded funds to save and protect our communities from extreme weather conditions,” Serrano added.

The ABI presented a list of impounded funds during the House Committee on Appropriations’ special hearing on ABI’s alternative budget proposals. This includes funds for health and agriculture programs in the 2008 budget such as P1.8 billion for family health, P400 million for the tuberculosis program, P100 million for purchase of autoclaves, P100 million for the promotion of organic agriculture and P2 million for training for system of rice intensification (SRI) small farmers; and funds in the 2009 General Appropriations Act (GAA) including P95 million for Protected Areas and Wildlife Management and P1 billion for reforestation.

Committee on Appropriations Vice Chair Edcel Lagman echoed the ABI’s call in his sponsorship speech during the plenary debates on the 2010 national budget. “Once impounded as “forced savings” congressional initiative allocations may never see the light of day or the impounded amounts constitute an off-budget new lump sum which can be used by the Executive to fund projects which may not even find anchorage in the General Appropriations Act,” Lagman said.

The ABI also called Congress to advise the Executive to be transparent and report any transfer of funds to calamity funds. “The Commission on Audit (COA) reported lack of information on budget documents such as the pooled savings in 2007 amounting to P106.11 billion from net of transfer from one agency to another and from one SPF to another which cannot be verified due to lack of supporting documents,” Briones said. “The COA also reported realignment of Funds without Authority such as savings on electricity and fuel which were used to pay transportation and rice subsidy without request for realignment,” Briones said.

The ABI, a consortium of 60 nongovernment organizations led by Social Watch Philippines, is globally acknowledged for initiating civil society-legislature partnership for alternative budget proposals for increased allocation for health, agriculture, environment and education.