September 13, 2009
Social Watch Philippines (SWP) challenged Senators and Congressmen to strongly assert their power of the purse as the design of the 2010 national budget proposed by President Gloria Arroyo allows the legislature to review only P845 billion of the P1.54 trillion allocations.
Former national treasurer and SWP lead convenor Leonor Magtolis Briones said that the new appropriations is only P914 billion of the P1.54 trillion budget. Deducting the unprogrammed funds in new appropriations, the allocation to be scrutinized by congress is only P845 billion.
“Comparing 2009 and 2010 budget in terms of total obligations, the budget is P114 billion higher now. Yet, the new appropriations that Congress has to act on is P3.774 billion less than what they had to act on in 2009.” said Briones.
Briones also warned that that the increases in the 2010 budget are out of reach of the legislature, while the decreases in the budget will affect the agencies which the legislature reviews.
“The increases are in budget items which cannot be touched by legislature. This includes the Automatic Appropriations which increased by P123 billion and the SPF which increased by P166 billion. Meanwhile, the budget for departments, which the legislature reviews, decreased by 51 billion,” Briones said.
She added that the budget for Departments is only 42.77 percent, while the budget for Special Purpose Funds (SPF), which is generally under the control of the executive and will not be reviewed by Congress, is 57.23 percent.
“Right now, the arena for the legislature’s engagement with the executive is even smaller with the smaller budget that the legislature can touch. It lays the question of who really holds the power of the purse. What is clear is that the power of release is with the President,” Briones, who is Oxfam’s Ambassador to the G8, said.
SWP, through the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) campaign, which is a partnership among 60 civil society groups and legislators formulating alternative budget proposals for more allocations for social development, called on Congress and the Commission on Audit (COA) to meticulously scrutinize the SPF. ABI has been campaigning for the realignment of SPF, which includes budget items without clear, identifiable and useful purpose, to allocations for social development programs.
“While the extent of Congressional intervention in the proposed budget is heavily compromised by the fact that New General Appropriations is only 59% of the budget, Senators and Congressmen can still make significant improvement to ensure that an expenditure program which is viable and responsive to current economic conditions and social development needs of the country is adopted,” Briones said.
Briones reported that nongovernment groups, partner legislators, the Congressional Planning and Budget Division (CPBD) and the Senate Economic Planning Office (SEPO ), in a meeting held recently, also agreed to help each other in guarding the 2010 budget by broadening civil society participation in Congressional budget deliberation. This will be done through exchange of information, joint analyses of the Executive’s proposed budget and development of alternative budget proposals.
Rene Raya of Action for Economic Reforms said that the ABI is also calling on Congress to strengthen oversight function of the legislature to curtail wastage in government spending. “This can be done through the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on the Budget, the creation of which was agreed upon by the Bi-Cameral Conference Committee on the 2009 Budget on January 2009,” Raya said.
“We also plead that Congress prioritize legislative budget reform initiatives, which already started early this year with the public hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Finance on the impoundment control bills,” Raya added.
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