ith P140-billion savings, why seek P10-billion more?

THE Philippine Star



http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=511528&publicationSubCategoryId=64



Opinion



With P140-billion savings, why seek P10-billion more?

POSTSCRIPT By Federico D. Pascual Jr. (The Philippine Star) Updated October 06, 2009 12:00 AM



HIDDEN SAVINGS: Instead of the P10-billion supplemental calamity budget that the Congress wants to pass, President Gloria Arroyo should just use the P140 billion in savings accumulated from programs that were phased down in 2008.



Many reasonable people find the above calamity-mitigation funding proposal of the private sector Alternative Budget Initiative logical and pragmatic.



Tapping accumulated savings is simpler and faster fund mobilization than enacting a supplemental budget that is prone to the usual legislative horse-trading and sure to bloat the deficit.



Using the impounded billions now to cushion the depredation of typhoons and future disasters will also dispel suspicion that the “war chest” is being packed and preserved for partisan spending in the 2010 elections.



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BULGING DEFICIT: The ABI said the P140-billion savings piled up after the President stopped the fund releases for programs of different agencies in 2008 and transferred the billions to overall savings.



Former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines that organized the ABI, said: “The proposed P10-billion supplemental budget for a calamity fund will cause more hardships for millions of hungry Filipinos because this will add to the country’s ballooning deficit.”



Briones said the deficit starts at P210 billion as of end of August and is expected to breach P300 billion by the end of the year.



“Meanwhile, life has been a calamity for 3.7 million Filipino families with no food, no education, and no healthcare, because funds for social development programs had been impounded and transformed to savings,” she added.



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OTHER OPTIONS: Even without a supplemental budget, Malacañang is not that helpless in mitigating the effects of disasters, Briones said.



Another option, she pointed out, is for the Congress to advise the President to use Special Purpose Funds that may be validly spent during disasters. The entire country has been declared in a state of calamity.



With the lump sums classified as Special Purpose Funds are billions under the Allocations for Local Government Units that include the Kilos Asenso Fund and Financial Subsidy to LGUs.



The President simply has to inform the Congress, which holds the purse strings of government, that she would transfer certain budget items to the calamity fund.



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AUDIT NEEDED: In yesterday’s Senate inquiry into the government’s handling of the Ondoy disaster, the La Liga Policy Institute supported the ABI proposal.



Roland Cabigas, LLPI managing director, said the quickest way to finance government’s response to disasters is “not by enacting a supplemental budget but by simply releasing already available funds but have been impounded since 2008.”



He added that calamity fund disbursement must be reviewed. A process must be defined, he said, where local governments directly receive the money and prioritize spending based on actual needs.”



Calamity funds are often treated as highly discretionary and not audited. For 2009 so far, Cabigas said, the calamity fund releases that have reached P6 billion must be audited.