Solon urges DBM to disclose budget cuts redirected to COVID-19 response
Published Apr 27, 2020 12:00 am
By Ben Rosario
Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor, chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, has called for government to forego spending for non-essential items so that more funds may be mobilized for increasing the war chest in the fight against the deadly 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID 19), and to ensure full transparency in reporting these measures.
Anakalusugan Party-list Representative Michael Defensor (MANILA BULLETIN)
Defensor said he is supporting a similar appeal aired by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano after government announced it will make drastic budget cuts to ensure full financing of programs aimed at cushioning the impact of the national health emergency.
“While we support efforts to boost funding for the fight against the coronavirus disease, we want the public to be informed on what specific programs, activities and/or projects (PAPs) funded in this year’s national budget would be affected by cost-cutting,” said Defensor.
The senior administration lawmaker proposed that the Department of Budget and Management and other concerned agencies could come up with a consolidated list of affected PAPs and post them on their websites.
Defensor said he would support a move on the part of the DBM, the administration’s economic team and the inter-agency task force against COVID-19 to deny funding to non-essential PAPs that the government may defer or cancel, in order to conserve resources needed for effective response to the pandemic.
The DBM on Wednesday disclosed that it will impose a 35-percent reduction on “programmed appropriations” for this year and an additional 10 percent on certain non-essential expenses.
Non-essential expenditures like those for travel, seminars, representation or dining out and entertainment by officials and their guests, donations, and the hiring of consultants are part of the government’s maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), for which there is an allocation of P1.6 trillion in the 2020 budget.
Defensor said if the DBM would effect an across-the-board 10-percent cut in MOOE, the government could easily raise an additional P160 billion for the anti-Covid-19 fund.
“Some MOOE items could be scrapped altogether so the money could be used to fight the pandemic. For instance, we could forego bureaucrats’ travels this year, except those extremely necessary, and add the P19.4-billion allocation for those trips to funds intended to fight the coronavirus disease and help the affected sectors,” he said.
He said other MOOE items that could be scrapped or drastically reduced are training and scholarship, P32.9 billion; supplies and materials, P108.3 billion; representation, P5.2 billion; communication, P10.7 billion; hiring of consultants, P29 billion; advertising, P3 billion; subscription, P4.1 billion; donations, P41.8 billion; printing and publication, P1.9 billion; and membership dues and contributions to organizations, P2.4 billion.
“Why should we spend P41.8 billion for donations when our hospitals are begging for personal protective equipment (PPE) from private donors? We might as well spend that money for PPE items like face masks and shields, and protective suits, the lack of which is exposing our health workers to danger,” Defensor stressed.
Instead of hiring consultants, the government could spend the P29 billion allocated for such purpose to grant additional benefits to doctors, nurses and other frontline workers, and to hire more health care personnel, he added.
Anakalusugan Party-list Representative Michael Defensor (MANILA BULLETIN)
Defensor said he is supporting a similar appeal aired by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano after government announced it will make drastic budget cuts to ensure full financing of programs aimed at cushioning the impact of the national health emergency.
“While we support efforts to boost funding for the fight against the coronavirus disease, we want the public to be informed on what specific programs, activities and/or projects (PAPs) funded in this year’s national budget would be affected by cost-cutting,” said Defensor.
The senior administration lawmaker proposed that the Department of Budget and Management and other concerned agencies could come up with a consolidated list of affected PAPs and post them on their websites.
Defensor said he would support a move on the part of the DBM, the administration’s economic team and the inter-agency task force against COVID-19 to deny funding to non-essential PAPs that the government may defer or cancel, in order to conserve resources needed for effective response to the pandemic.
The DBM on Wednesday disclosed that it will impose a 35-percent reduction on “programmed appropriations” for this year and an additional 10 percent on certain non-essential expenses.
Non-essential expenditures like those for travel, seminars, representation or dining out and entertainment by officials and their guests, donations, and the hiring of consultants are part of the government’s maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), for which there is an allocation of P1.6 trillion in the 2020 budget.
Defensor said if the DBM would effect an across-the-board 10-percent cut in MOOE, the government could easily raise an additional P160 billion for the anti-Covid-19 fund.
“Some MOOE items could be scrapped altogether so the money could be used to fight the pandemic. For instance, we could forego bureaucrats’ travels this year, except those extremely necessary, and add the P19.4-billion allocation for those trips to funds intended to fight the coronavirus disease and help the affected sectors,” he said.
He said other MOOE items that could be scrapped or drastically reduced are training and scholarship, P32.9 billion; supplies and materials, P108.3 billion; representation, P5.2 billion; communication, P10.7 billion; hiring of consultants, P29 billion; advertising, P3 billion; subscription, P4.1 billion; donations, P41.8 billion; printing and publication, P1.9 billion; and membership dues and contributions to organizations, P2.4 billion.
“Why should we spend P41.8 billion for donations when our hospitals are begging for personal protective equipment (PPE) from private donors? We might as well spend that money for PPE items like face masks and shields, and protective suits, the lack of which is exposing our health workers to danger,” Defensor stressed.
Instead of hiring consultants, the government could spend the P29 billion allocated for such purpose to grant additional benefits to doctors, nurses and other frontline workers, and to hire more health care personnel, he added.