Congress urged to Act Fast on People’s Participation in Budget Deliberations Act

February 20, 2011

 Members of the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI), the hundred-strong consortium of non-government organizations that annually formulates alternative budget proposals for social development budgets, called on Congressmen and Senators to prioritize the passage of the People’s Participation in Budget Deliberations Act of 2010.

“Institutionalizing the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the national and local budget is crucial in the success of government efforts to address poverty and inequality,” said former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines (SWP) which leads the ABI.

“Participation of people’s groups that represent the vulnerable sectors in decision-making on the budget will help address the grave inequality which is the primary reason for repeated failures of poverty alleviation strategies,” Briones said. “Experiences of various states, such as India, Brazil, Mexico and Uganda showed that institutionalizing people’s participation in government budgeting down the community level dramatically improved the delivery of socioeconomic services, especially to the marginalized sectors,” she added.

Senate Bill 2186 and the enhanced version of House Bill 219 set the mechanisms for accreditation of NGOs and people’s organizations to participate in budget deliberations in the Senate, House of Representatives and Local Government Units; and to be involved in the preparation of agency budgets. It grants rights and entitlements to accredited groups such as proposing alternative budgets and alternative sources of financing; participating in budget deliberations at various levels of Government; and serving as resource persons during budget oversight.

Both Bills cited that the inspiration of the proposed laws is the Social Watch Philippines and Alternative Budget Initiative’s four years of fruitful experience in forging partnerships with legislators to formulate and lobby for alternative budget proposals for increased allocation for education, health, agriculture and environment.

Briones said that the Bills would help put in place transparency and accountability which are lacking in the Philippine budget system. “The character of the Philippine budget is an executive budget where the President is in control throughout the entire budget process. It is based on a decree issued by the dictatorial regime of President Ferdinand Marcos that gives all the powers to the executive,” Briones explained.

Briones added that her study on people’s participation in the Philippine budget process, which was supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), revealed that people’s participation in public finance has accelerated but is very uneven. “Government response is very uneven. It differs among agencies, among branches of government and among legislators,” she said.

“We call on this Government to embed people participation in all processes in the public finance cycle. The immediate passage of the People’s Participation in Budget Deliberations Act of 2010 will promote active citizenship, allowing the people, especially the vulnerable sectors, to be partners of Government in implementing a people-oriented, transparent and accountable budget process,” Briones said.

Extreme vigilance over lump sums urgent in 2011

January 20, 2011

Member-organizations of the Social Watch Philippines network and the Alternative Budget Initiative call on all citizens and the mass media to exercise extreme vigilance over the 2011 national budget as poverty alleviation programs were cut and sacrificed to favor budget for other pro-poor programs instead of using the huge amount of lump sum appropriations to increase the budget for critical socioeconomic services for the marginalized sectors.

 

The lump sum items, which are highly discretionary and prone to corruption, include the P21 billion Conditional Cash Transfer Program budget under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the P30.5 billion Unprogrammed Funds – Support for Infrastructure Projects and Social Programs, the P1 billion fund – subsidy for contingencies, and Public-Private Partnership Support Fund.

Meanwhile, the 2011 budget for education, environment and health remains problematic. The questionable lump sums should have been used to increase the budget for socioeconomic services instead of sacrificing budget items within each sector to finance the other programs.

The education sector has the biggest increase in the 2011 budget law in the amount of P750 million. Yet, the education budget itself still does not reflect investment in programs to reach the unreached or less-privileged and improved governance and transparency. The realignment of the lump sum for basic education to create new teaching positions is insufficient to provide quality education.

The budget law allocates a measly P13.1 billion for the environment and natural resources sector despite the threats of climate change-triggered natural disasters such as super typhoons, flashfloods and even agricultural drought. This defies the Government’s promise of giving climate change utmost priority.

For health, the ABI laments on the P251.35 million slash from the family planning budget, which accounts to P754.35 million overall decrease as against the 2010 General Appropriations Act. This will ultimately derail the unmet need for family planning and will not help attain goals on improving maternal health. The budget cut affects the expenses for all the family planning programs of the Department of Health, and not solely for the acquisition of contraceptives.

For agriculture, the government should provide more funds for the National Food Authority (NFA) to buy rice from the local farmers; and to provide climate-resistant livelihood for fishers in the light of massive poverty among coastal communities in the Philippines. If nothing is done about this, hunger and poverty will worsen especially in the countryside.

SWP/ABI appeals to all stakeholders to be most vigilant on how the government will spend taxpayers’ money in 2011, especially the lump sum appropriations. SWP/ABI will continue to engage the executive and legislative government in the budget process and demand for a broader citizens’ participation.

Study reveals scant Filipino people power on public funds

January 20, 2011

 

Real people power over public funds in the Philippines is still very limited. This was the main message of Prof. Leonor Magtolis Briones during her last official lecture as professor of the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance.

“The new administration still needs to prove that it is a democratic government by institutionalizing citizens’ participation in all phases of the public finance cycle,” said Briones during her public lecture titled “Pera ng Taumbayan, Para Sa Taumbayan”. .

“People should be directly involved in the determining fiscal policy, revenue, expenditures, borrowings and accountability; and not simply play the role of providing information to the public,” explained Briones who has been nominated by her College for the title of Professor Emeritus.

Briones’ stated that citizens’ participation is least palpable and least visible in the formulation of fiscal policy. “The Medium Term Development Plan (MTPDP) which is the basis for fiscal policy, mandates citizens’ participation largely in social development and not necessarily in public finance,” Briones said.

Briones’ lecture is based on a study grant from the United Nations Development Program on “Enhancing Citizens’ Participation in Public Finance”.

Meanwhile, the study showed the people’s groups’ are not really able to participate in crafting policies on revenue; but are actually just informing the public on issues such as sin taxes. The situation is the same in the accountability stage of public finance, where people’s engagement is not sustained as it depends on the issue and not on systemic government reforms.

On the other hand, the study revealed that there is sustained people’s participation in determining policies on borrowings, but the impact is limited. “It seems that civil society positions on debt are being ignored by the government because the policy on borrowings has not changed much even after many years of sustained campaigns by nongovernment organizations,” said Briones, who has been teaching public finance for already 50 years and has served as the Secretary to the Commission on Audit and Treasurer of the Philippines.

Briones said that the stage of public finance where Filipinos has shown great influence is on determining expenditures. “Social Watch Philippines led sustained people’s engagement in the entire budget cycle through the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI). The impact on policies on expenditures is clearly seen in the increased budget for social development that SWP/API has been able to push for in the General Appropriations Act of the last four years,” Briones said.

The study showed that since 2006, civil society groups have been participating in determining expenditures through reforms in the legislature. It is only in the budget for 2012 that civil society groups will be able to actually participate in the preparation of the budget by the executive branch.

“It is a long way to go. There is very limited peoples’ power on Philippine public finance,” Briones said. “It is important to know if the government really listens to the people. The challenge is for the new administration to finally institutionalize people’s participation in all phases of public finance, not just in terms of providing information to the public, but in terms of actual participation in determining the policies,” she said.

Budget activists hit signing of 2011 budget law

December 28, 2010

Says being on time ‘not enough’ to address lingering problems of the poor 

BUDGET activists expressed dismay over the signing the P1.645 national budget law by Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino on Monday, insisting that Malacanang’s budget proposal was “problematic” in many ways.
The so-called “Reform Budget” sought by Pres. Aquino for 2011 was approved by both houses of Congress without any major change as predicted by Malacanang.
The P1.645 budget for next year is 6.8 per cent higher than the P1.54-trillion national budget for 2010. Even with such increase, however, citizens’ groups remain skeptical that such increase will suffice to finance government operations and fund anti-poverty programs that will actually trickle down to the poorest of the poor.
Prof. Leonor Magtolis-Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines which organized the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) said while the signing of the budget law by Pres. Aquino on the same year it was submitted to Malacanang by Congress was commendable, the major issues and concerns raised by citizens’ groups such as the questionable lump sum appropriations were not properly addressed.
“They put more emphasis on the time in signing into law the budget measure but not its content and substance,” Briones, a former national treasurer stressed.
Equally important in the signing of the budget law is the content and substance of the budget measure which should be responsive to the needs of the poor based on their experiences rather than the wants of a few government technocrats, she said.
According to Briones from the start, the budget process lacked the transparency and citizens’ participation, which Pres. Aquino himself promised the people.
Citizens’ groups under ABI, a network of over 100 nongovernment organizations and people’s organizations, want Congress to use the lump sums to increase the budget for poverty alleviation programs instead of sacrificing certain pro-poor programs.
The lump sum items include the P21 billion Conditional Cash Transfer Program budget under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the P30.5 billion Unprogrammed Funds – Support for Infrastructure Projects and Social Programs, the P1 billion fund – subsidy for contingencies, and Public-Private Partnership Support Fund.
She said Social Watch and the network of NGOs and POs under ABI will continue to engage the executive and legislative government in the budget process and demand for a broader citizens’ participation.
She appealed to various stakeholders to be vigilant on how the government will spend taxpayers’ money next year, especially the lump sum appropriations which is at the disposal of Pres. Aquino.
The education sector has the biggest increase in the 2011 budget law in the amount of P750 million. Even with such increase, however, members of the ABI-Education Sector believe the gaps in the proposed budget will not be addressed.
“The said realignment of the lump sum for basic education to create new teaching positions is insufficient to provide quality education. More so, the education budget itself still does not reflect investment in programs to reach the unreached or less-privileged and improved governance and transparency,” says Rene Raya of the Action for Economic Reforms (AER).
THE ABI-Education Sector is demanding for budget increase for Alternative Learning System, which is supposed to cater to the out-of-school youth. They are proposing a P2,500 budget per learner for 500,000 learners.
Jonathan Ronquillo of the La Liga Policy Institute said the 2011 budget remain insensitive to climate change.
The signing into law of the budget measure, which allocates a measly P13.1 billion for the environment and natural resources sector despite the threats of climate change-triggered natural disasters such as super typhoons, flashfloods and even agricultural drought, defies Pres. Aquino’s own promise of giving climate change utmost priority.
ABI-Environment Sector members has been proposing an increase in the budget for the environment and natural sector for 2011 amounting to P4.7 billion.
“It is unfortunate that the Bicameral Conference Committee was mistakenly misled by their knowledge of the family planning budget.

The P880 million request is over and above the National Expenditure Program and GAB-proposed P931.349 million allocation for family health including family planning,” WomanHealth Philippines’ Mercy Fabros said for her part.
The ABI-Health Sector criticized the misguided P251.35 million slash from the said budget item, which accounts to P754.35 million overall decrease as against the 2010 General Appropriations Act.
This will ultimately derail the unmet need for family planning and will not help the attainment of health-related Millennium Development Goals especially on improving maternal health. This will cover the expenses of all the family planning programs of the Department of Health, not solely for the acquisition of contraceptives, the ABI-Health Sector argued.
Moreover, the group argued that is unacceptable to realign such funds to State Universities and Colleges (SUCs). Additional allocation for SUCs should be lodged onto the highly discretionary P90 million-lump sum funds in the budget bill. There should never be a clash between equally important services of the government.
For its part, Hazel Tanchuling of the Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) which represents the ABI-Agriculture Sector wants Congress to allocate P9 billion for the National Food Authority (NFA) to buy rice from our local farmers; and allocate P550 million for provision of climate-resistant livelihood for fishers in the light of massive poverty among coastal communities in the Philippines.
Doing nothing about such problems, the group believes, will only worsen hunger and poverty, especially in the countrywide.

House Speaker and Senate President pledged more funds for the MDGs

September 15, 2010

 

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House of Representatives Speaker Feliciano Belmonte today promised to work together with citizens’ groups in increasing the allocations for programs on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) during the Ceremonial Handover of the Citizens’ Report on the MDGs held at the House of Representatives.

“The shadow report ‘Winning the Numbers, Losing the War: The Other MDG Report 2010’ intends to feed into the annual planning and budgeting processes and the new regime’s six-year blueprint,” said Isagani Serrano, convenor of Social Watch Philippines which published the Citizens’ Report on the MDGs.

 

“Our hope is to see an MTPDP and local development plans that are truly MDG-sensitive and committed to deliver on the minimalist MDG promises,” he added.

President Noynoy Aquino is set to present the Fourth Philippines’ Progress Report on the MDGs to over a hundred heads of State in New York this September. The MDGs is the set of measurable targets which heads of state promised to fulfil by 2015 in order to eradicate poverty and hunger, reduce inequality and promote human rights.

“The Citizens Report on the MDGs is a brutally frank assessment of government efforts and failures on its commitment to the MDGs. I call on all government agencies involved in the implementation of programs to work closely with those who wrote the Citizens MDG Report 2010,” said Senator Enrile. “We are racing against time; millions of lives must be protected. We need to put our acts together and save as many Filipino lives as we can,” he added.

Former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, SWP lead convenor, said that it is obvious that the financing gap on the MDGs is a major reason on why the poverty situation is worse in 2010 than when the country started on the MDGs in 2000.

 

“An MDG-sensitive budget will correct the inequalities highlighted in the Shadow report. A budget to provide education, health, decent work, food security for all — not just for a half or for two-thirds of the poor – will ensure that no Filipino is left behind,” Briones said.

“Government has to invest more on programs related to MDGs. We need to honestly evaluate our policies, and address the issues and massive level of corruption, especially in the poorest regions of the land,” Senator Enrile said. “The lawmakers of this country have long recognized that investments in healthcare, disease control, and environment conservation are long term strategies for development in this country. To end poverty, the best thing to do is to put in place a system of taxation from the rich and spend it to increase the income of the poor,” he added.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte called for reallocation of funds where it is mostly needed to achieve the poverty alleviation goals. “The Citizens’ MDG Report help people realize that the budget for education and health barely improved and do not match with population growth and the need for catch up for the MDGs, especially in Mindanao,” Rep. Belmonte said.

Serrano said that what is needed is for the budget to support an MDG catch up plan that focus on where the country is lagging behind—poverty, education and maternal health. “The national budgets beginning 2011 until 2015 must be MDG-dedicated. The General Appropriations Acts (GAAs) to be enacted for those years should be pre-audited for their MDG-sensitivity,” Serrano said.

Rep. Belmonte said that the House of Representative will help civil society groups to move the government and the people to exert more effort especially on financing the MDGs. “The House will continue to put the necessary pressure to achieve more effort on the MDGs. The House of Representatives would like to thank the citizens’ groups who wrote the Citizens’ MDG Report for having monitored the country’s progress for the last ten years,” he said.

The Senate President also said that the Senate shall continue to pass laws on the attainment of the MDGs and shall continue to scrutinize the agencies’ programs on the goals. “I myself will study the assessment and recommendations from the Citizens’ MDG Report,” said Enrile.

Citizens’ groups offer Shadow Report to help Gov’t catch up on MDGs

September 15, 2010

 

Citizens groups of the network Social Watch Philippines (SWP) today handed over the citizen’s shadow report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Speaker of the House of Representatives Feliciano Belmonte and to the members of the House Committee on the MDGs as a gesture of seriousness in poverty alleviation and helping increase financing for social development.

 

President Noynoy Aquino is set to present the Fourth Philippines’ Progress Report on the MDGs to over a hundred heads of State in New York this September. The MDGs is the set of measurable targets which heads of state promised to fulfil by 2015 in order to eradicate poverty and hunger, reduce inequality and promote human rights.

 

“The Citizens Report on the MDGs is a brutally frank assessment of government efforts and failures on its commitment to the MDGs. I call on all government agencies involved in the implementation of programs to work closely with those who wrote the Citizens MDG Report 2010,” said Senator Enrile. “We are racing against time, millions of lives must be protected. We need to put our acts together and save as many Filipino lives as we can,” he added.

 

The Senate President also said that the Senate shall continue to pass law on the attainment of the MDGs and shall continue to scrutinize the agencies’ programs on the MDGs. “I myself will study the assessment and recommendations from the Citizens’ MDG Report,” said Enrile.

 

Meanwhile, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said that the House of Representative will help civil society groups to move the government and the people to exert more effort on the MDGs. “The House will continue to put the necessary pressure to achieve more effort on the MDGs. The House of Representatives would like to thank the citizens’ groups who wrote the Citizens’ MDG Report for having monitored the country’s progress for the last ten years,” Belmonte said.

 

“The Philippines is in a worse poverty situation in 2010 than when it started on the MDGs in 2000. We are losing the war on poverty. Many would still be left behind, and their numbers are simply staggering by any count,” said Isagani Serrano, SWP convenor and editor of the citizens’ report on the MDGs. “The Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) failed on its promise to reduce the poverty incidence of families by 20 percent come 2010,” he added.

 

“The shadow report ‘Winning the Numbers, Losing the War: The Other MDG Report 2010’ intends to feed into the annual planning and budgeting processes and the new regime’s six-year blueprint,”  Serrano explained. “Our hope is to see an MTPDP and local development plans that are truly MDG-sensitive and committed to deliver on the minimalist MDG promises,” he added.

 

Serrano said that, in sharp contrast to the Philippines Fourth Progress Report on the MDGs 2010, the shadow report warns that the problem is much more serious than what the government is prepared to admit.  “The official report was impressive in its goal-by-goal analysis and solutions, but many of the quantitative indicators on key goals such as education, maternal and infant mortality and poverty eradication are still between low and medium probability of achievement when they should all be on the high side going into the last five years,” he said.

 

Former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, SWP lead convenor, said that it is obvious that the financing gap on the MDGs is a major reason on why the poverty situation is worse in 2010 than when the country started on the MDGs in 2000.  “An MDG-sensitive budget will correct the inequalities highlighted in the Shadow report.  A budget to provide education, health, decent work, food security for all — not just for a half or for two-thirds of the poor – will ensure that no Filipino is left behind,” Briones said.

 

Serrano added that the shadow report also digs into the less obvious reasons of not attaining the minimalist set of goals despite MDG-oriented policy declarations and national development plans.

 

Marivic Raquiza, SWP convenor and lead writer on poverty (MDG 1), pointed out that, in the first place, the country has a very low poverty threshold of P41 per person per day, which is not enough to cover the food, medical, education, transportation and rental expenses of any person.

 

Meanwhile, Rene Raya of E-Net Philippines said that while the government report admitted the poor performance and failings of the education sector, the analysis and arguments presented appear to be restrained. “Stagnation and reversals in education since 2000 left the marginalized further behind, thus, exacerbating inequality even more. We need budget and mechanisms to effectively reach out to the ‘unreached’, particularly the non-literates, the out-of-school, indigenous people and Muslim children, and other socially excluded sectors,” said Raya. “The country has long been under investing in education with a total education expenditure level that consistently declined from 3.5% of GDP in 2000 to only 2.4% of GDP in 2004,” he added.

 

Meanwhile, the shadow report writers on health laud the President’s promises of universal health care within three years’ time and to reform of the health insurance system to achieve universal coverage.

“The Philippines is one of 68 countries where 97 percent of all neonatal, child and maternal deaths worldwide occurs. Ensuring equity could prevent 40 percent of all child deaths, which occur largely among poor children,” said May-I Fabros, lead writer on infant mortality.

Mercy Fabros of Woman Health Philippines and lead writer on maternal health noted that the Philippines is one of 55 countries that accounts for 94 percent of all maternal deaths in the world. “In 2007, the Philippines spent 6.8 percent of government expenditures on health compared with the average of 9.9 percent of government expenditures for the East Asia Region,” Fabros said. “To achieve universal health care, we should shift the relative weight of public spending from tertiary services that cater to the affluent to basic services and public health that benefit the poor,” she added.

Meanwhile, Edel Hernandez of the Medical Action Group (MAG) said that total prevention and cure for HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria are still far on the horizon. The shadow report on infectious diseases revealed a total gap of about P178.8 million per year required to finance TB control; and a projected 11- year P15 billion financing gap for malaria.

Meanwhile, writers on environmental sustainability said that the current MTPDP is the most glaring policy inconsistency with regard to ensuring environmental sustainability (MDG7). “It prescribes a business as usual attitude in environment and natural resources management. It is clearly uninformed of the realities and challenges of climate change,” said Jonathan Ronquillo of the La Liga Policy Institute.

The writers reported that mining took up 67 percent of the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), while funding allocations for protected areas, biodiversity conservation, reforestation and implementation of environmental laws are either erratic, low or completely without allocations.

Jessica Cantos, convenor of Rice Watch Action Network and lead writer on global partnerships for development, said that trade, debt and aid have all worked to exacerbate rather than alleviate poverty and unemployment in the Philippines. Cantos called for debt relief to countries where government revenues cannot meet MDG financing needs. “Since 2000, the nation has been saddled with debts more than the combined borrowings of the three preceding regimes. It is time to do away with the traditional debt ratios that create an illusion that a country has the capacity to service its debt and at the same time develop,” she said.

The Shadow Report also featured the report by people in Mindanao. “The government report attributed this situation to the conflicts and peace and order problem. What is not said is that several of these poorest regions, provinces and towns are also host to large plantations and mining enclaves,” Serrano said.

”Approximately 40 percent of the AFP annual budget spent on war in Mindanao in 1970-1996 could have built thousands of farm to market, roads, classrooms, clinics, irrigation systems and other socio-economic infrastructure,” said Jolly Lais of Assalam, lead writer on the plight of the Bangsa Moro people.

Serrano said that what is needed is for the budget to support an MDG catch up plan that focus on where the country is lagging behind—poverty, education and maternal health. “The national budgets beginning 2011 until 2015 must be MDG-dedicated. The General Appropriations Acts (GAAs) to be enacted for those years should be pre-audited for their MDG-sensitivity,” Serrano said.

Noy told: ‘Don’t do a Gloria’ Release budget on time – Group

May 22, 2010

Taking the lawmakers’ pork barrel hostage, as well as impounding budget for basic social services will make President-apparent Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III no different from Pres. Gloria Arroyo who is notorious for taking control of the people’s purse, budget activists said.

 

Prof. Leonor Magtolis-Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines (SWP) which initiated the internationally-recognized Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) said “Aquino should not do a Gloria” by ordering the release of the budget on time.

During Pres. Arroyo’s term, the impounded budget for 2009 alone has reached P140 billion. The impounded budget represents various fund transfers from different government agencies. As “government savings”, it becomes high discretionary and its use is subject to presidential prerogative.

“Since last year, the ABI has been calling for the release of impounded funds including 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.” Briones said.

The impounded budget could have been used by Pres. Arroyo for purposes other than what was approved by Congress, including election, specifically to aid administration’s candidates in the recently-concluded national and local elections.

Briones said while the GMA-approved budget for 2010 may have tied the hands of her successor, much of the 2010 National budget remain highly discretionary and subject to the prerogative of the Office of the President.

Beside, she said the claim of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman of Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s that Sec. 67 of the General Appropriations Act of 2010, which calls for the prohibition against impoundment of appropriations, may have been covered by Pres. Arroyo’s conditional veto of the budget. It also means that the issue is subject to debate and interpretation, she said.

“What is dangerous and disturbing is the pronouncement of LP spokesperson Butch Abad of LP’s plan to the use pork barrel funds to win the Speakership of the House. This will make Pres. Aquino no different from GMA,” she said.

Jonathan Ronquillo, environment campaigner of the nongovernment organization La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga) warned Pres. Aquino against messing with the budget, saying it will only create a wrong impression of him as being “interested” in controlling the people’s purse like Pres. Arroyo.

“The best thing to do is for Pres. Aquino to give back the power of the purse to Congress and make sure that the funds are released on time,” he said.

The group, which acts as the secretariat of the Environment Cluster of ABI is a vocal critic of Pres. Arroyo, for impounding budget, particularly the 2009 budget for Protected Areas and National Parks, and two important wildlife conservation projects – for pawikan or sea turtle and the Philippine tamaraw.
The group also hit the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for withholding the release of P1 billion under Pres. Arroyo’s own pet project, the Comprehensive Livelihood Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP) for massive tree planting activities which could have provided jobs and livelihood to hundreds of thousands of upland dwellers.

“The timely disbursement of funds is crucial to the defense of the environment. We have learned from past experiences under Pres. Arroyo’s nine-year administration how impounding the budget hampers the delivery of basic social and economic services. Pres. Aquino can avoid that by releasing the budget on time,” Ronquillo ended. (La Liga Policy Institute)

The first thing P.Noy should do is to release the impounded funds for basic services – budget advocates

June 29, 2010

As the country celebrates the inauguration into office of President NoyNoy Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay, the hundred-strong Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) reminded them to immediately release the P140 billion impounded funds in 2008 for social development as well as the impounded funds for health, education, agriculture and environment in the 2009 budget.

“Even as Filipinos look forward to a new administration that would uphold human rights, the Filipinos with no power to buy food, recently numbering to 12.2 million individuals, is growing; the number of children dropping out from grade school and high school due to poverty, now numbering to 1.4 million Filipinos yearly, is increasing; and there is a need to save millions of mothers and their babies from dying,” said Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines (SWP) which organized the ABI.

“Nationwide, citizens’ groups comprising the ABI, found renewed hope because President Aquino and Vice President Binay were our staunch partners in Government in our four-year campaign for increased allocations for social services and for budget reforms,” said former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones. “They echoed our call for the release of the impounded funds and that the “conditional veto” imposed by former President Gloria Arroyo violates democracy because it undermines the legislature’s power of the purse,” she added.

The conditional veto imposed by the Office of the President in 2008, mandated that all budget items included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) as a result of the initiatives of Senators and Congressmen, are subject to Presidential approval before these can be released.

The ABI, which is globally acknowledged for initiating legislature-citizens’ partnerships for alternative budget proposals for increased allocations for critical socioeconomic services, has been campaigning for the release of funds in the 2008 and 2009 budgets that were not released due to conditional veto. This includes 2008 GAA budget items of 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. It also included 2009 GAA budget items such as P95 million for Protected Areas and Wildlife Management and P1 billion for reforestation.

“As ABI partners, we believe that, in essence, they have the commitment to immediately release the funds that would finally uphold human rights and end poverty. We call on President Aquino and Vice President Binay to continue their partnership with the people on pushing for budget reforms that they have lobbied for together with the ABI, SWP and other citizens’ organizations.

Cong. Tanada gets two thumbs up for P10 M pork barrel slash

July 08, 2010

The Alternative Budget Initiative, a consortium of a hundred civil society organizations nationwide that pioneered civil society engagement in the national budget process lauded Congressman Lorenzo Tanada III for proposing a P10 million slash from the Congressmen’s P70 million pork barrel. The Congressman from the 4th District of Quezon Province suggested that the amount to be saved from the pork barrel can be used to ease the budget deficit.

“A cut of P10 billion each from our 287 Congressmen’s pork barrel would mean P2.87 billion that will help directly increase the budget for critical socioeconomic services like health, education, agriculture and environment,” said Prof. Leonor Magtolis-Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines (SWP) which organized the ABI.

“ABI /SWP already identified sources of financing for social services to address poverty. There is a possibility that important expenditures might be reduced because of the deficit. This should not happen because the government should look at sources of finances. There is no excuse and they should not say that they will cut spending for poverty, education and health because they want to reduce the deficit,” Briones said.

Briones said that there are many budget items that could be tapped or realigned to finance social services, such as the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge (MVUC), Philippine Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) and Philhealth. “The MVUC and these institutions earn billions of money per year that could be tapped to help 5.2 million Fillipino children who are out of school, 27.6 million Filipinos living below the poverty line, and to stop Filipinos from dying every 20 minutes because of tuberculosis,” Briones said.

“The government financial institutions can be tapped to mobilize additional financing as well. Cong Tanada’s proposal to cut the pork barrel so that the deficit may be addressed should serve as example to President Noynoy Aquino, to other Congressmen and Senators and the officials of this new administration on how to face the issue of financing squarely,” Briones said. “This is a very pro-poor proposal because the budget deficit financed by raising taxes is hurting the poor people most. Meanwhile, even with the P10 million slash in their pork barrel, the Congressmen would still have P60 million to fund projects for their constituents,” she added.

Briones also proposed that the release of the pork barrel should be performance-based. She suggested that attendance to the sessions in Congress and Senate should be a key measure.

Social Watch Philippines Supports Leonor Magtolis Briones For Kaakbay Partylist

February 12, 2010

MEMBERS of the Social Watch Philippines (SWP) network supported the candidacy of its lead convenor, former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, under the Kaakbay Partylist.

“This country needs people like Briones in Congress,” said Jessica Reyes-Cantos, co-convenor of SWP. “She leads over a hundred citizens’ organizations on a campaign for increased spending for social services and has been at the helm of civil society and legislator partnership efforts on formulating and lobbying for alternative budget proposals for increased allocation for education, health, agriculture and the environment,” said Cantos.

Briones leads SWP in its campaign for increased financing for social development, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) since 2001. The MDGs are the set of eight goals embodying the countries’ commitment to end the worst forms of human deprivation by 2015.

“The Congress holds the people’s power of the purse. We need representatives who are dedicated to ensuring that the most vulnerable sectors benefit from public funds which are their hard earned money. We need people who can courageously tell rich nations to live up to their promises of helping the poorest countries and to be fair in providing aid. We need someone who leads civil society across the globe in fighting for fair economic policies,” said Rene Raya of Action for Economic Reforms (AER) who is also a convenor of SWP.

With Briones’ leadership, SWP has been actively involved in international global campaigns on the MDGs, and has been monitoring and analyzing public expenditures for social development, particularly the MDGs for already nine years. SWP is recognized globally for having tested and developed poverty measurements that are more sensitive at the local level. It has also established leadership in localizing the MDGs, and has led CSO-legislator partnerships in formulating alternative budget proposals for increased allocation for key MDG targets.
Briones is also the Philippine ambassador to the W8 which is a group of women leaders from eight nations organized by Oxfam to talk to heads of the richest countries to remind them to live up to their promises to help poor nations finance social development programs.

“We have been aiming and calling for reform and good governance for so many years. How to achieve reforms in government is what Briones has been teaching to our future leaders at the National College of Public Administration and Good Governance at the University of the Philippines. Young and new Congressmen and Senators need Briones’ wisdom and principles,” said Isagani Serrano, SWP convenor and president of the country’s oldest nongovernment organization, the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement.

“We feel that Briones’ victory in Congress would be a victory for all citizens’ groups who have been untiringly lobbying inside the halls of Congress and holding mass actions outside the gates of Congress so that people’s voice may be finally heard and be translated into national policies”, said Marivic Raquiza, SWP convenor and former national coordinator of Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP).

Briones was chosen by Kaakbay Partylist as one of their candidates because of her longstanding dedication and leadership role in efforts to achieve the country’s commitment to end the worst forms of human deprivation through the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) such as the eradication of extreme poverty, achieving quality education, realizing universal healthcare services and ensuring environmental sustainability.