Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo (left), and Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (MANILA BULLETIN, Facebook)




With a new budget season lurking around the corner, ranking House of Representatives members have begun to scrutinize the different government agencies on the proper disbursement of their funds. Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the Committee on Appropriations, recently presided over the budget oversight hearing of the Department of Health (DOH). She said government agencies must ensure that their respective allocations under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) or national budget have been properly “utilized and disbursed timely, effectively, and efficiently". “We shall begin with a series of oversight meetings on the budget performance of departments, agencies, and corporations of the national government funded under the fiscal year (FY) 2022 GAA and for the first quarter of FY 2023 GAA,” Quimbo said. Meanwhile, Ways and Means Committee Chairman and Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda called out government agencies for not expediting the release of the funds, and for not spending the money fast enough. “Crucial agencies for economic and social services, such as DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment), and DBM (Department of Budget and Management), must be more aggressive in implementing programs to expand productivity. Otherwise, growth will come solely from the private sector,” Salceda said. The House of Representatives--which possess the power of the purse--will have begun to tackle the proposed 2024 national budget between August and September, or near the start of the second regular session. This ongoing first regular session will end on June 2. As this developed, the Commission on Audit (COA) bared its seven-year plan to digitally transform the government’s accounting system and use artificial intelligence (AI) to spot patterns or anomalies in a bid to easily detect fraud, especially in the disbursement of government funds. COA Chairman Gamaliel Cordoba said he hopes that in leveraging technology to improve audit techniques and procedures, there will be enhanced communication with the audited agencies and bodies with oversight over COA audit reports, especially Congress which includes the House. In early 2023, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said that his administration will ramp up measures this year to digitalize the government to ensure efficient and fast delivery of services to the public.