Albay Representative Joey Sarte Salceda has filed House Bill No. 9214, or the Budget Modernization Bill, a priority of the economic managers of the Duterte administration.
The bill, which contains the administration’s version of the budget reform, sets the ground rules for the use and allocation of government funds and the national budget, and institutionalizes public participation and transparency in budgeting.
Salceda, who formerly chaired the House appropriations committee, said the bill clarifies the processes and regulations for budget preparation, management, and reporting, and also introduces a rule that all congressional proposals that will erode government revenues, such as tax breaks, should have a corresponding revenue source identified.
The bill also institutionalizes the Budget Priorities Framework to ensure that the national budget is allocated towards clear national priorities.
“As the most important guiding document of national policy for the year, the budget must be prepared, discussed, and enforced in a manner that upholds national interest and the Constitution. It must be prepared and implemented with a view towards national objectives for the year,” Salceda, who is now heading of the House ways and means committee, explained.
“The budget process traditionally has three key stages: the budget preparation, the management of the fiscal resources the budget authorizes, and the reporting and evaluation of how the budget was spent. In each stage the ground rules have to be in place to ensure that there is no confusion among all stakeholders and implementers of the budget,” he added.
Aside from this, the bill also sought to institutionalize medium-term planning in infrastructure, to ensure that projects that are initiated during one budget year are carried out to completion. The bill also introduces filters on multi-year contracts to make sure that only such contracts that the government can fully meet will be initiated.
“The rule on contingent liabilities is important. Congress determines the budget, but many liabilities we incur are not in the budget. This is due to some contracts that the government enters without congressional approval that impose liabilities on the government. We will limit such liabilities,” Salceda said.
Another "key component" of the bill, Salceda said, is the inclusion of accountability measures and people’s participation in the budget process.
The reforms introduced primarily aim to ensure that public resources are allocated in a manner that aligns with national priorities, he said.
Among others, there would be a requirement that all proposed revenue eroding and expenditure bills include a Financial and Budgetary Information Sheet upon filing of the bill. The said information sheet shall contain an estimate of the financial and budgetary implications of said proposal for the initial year of implementation.
Public access to information on the budget is also part of the proposal.
“There is urgent need for a framework that clarifies the management of public resources, especially in view of the pressures our public resources face during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Salceda said.
“We can’t afford to waste public money during this difficult time. We need to manage the budget as well as we could,” he pointed out.