As Congress reviews and deliberates on the proposed ₱5.768-trillion budget for 2024, there must be full transparency to ensure full accountability on how the people’s money will be spent.

Three weeks ago, a seasoned legislator pointed out that this budget — if analyzed in terms of daily expenses — would entail borrowings estimated at ₱4 billion a day, as only ₱11.7 billion can be collected from taxes. According to economic think tank IBON Foundation, the government’s total accumulated debt is now at ₱12.5 trillion. This translates to ₱112,000 in debt per capita that will be paid in the form of taxes.

Enter both the incumbent and the previous chair of the Senate committee on finance that is presently scrutinizing the budget before it is reported out for floor deliberations — but only after it is passed in the House of Representatives where the proposed General Appropriations Act is submitted for initial review and approval.

Senator Sonny Angara assured his predecessor, former Senator Panfilo Lacson, that none of the items in the budget would be duplicated. According to the latter, there are 45 projects that have “unreasonably, unnecessarily, unconscionably bloated fund allocations in the range of 109 percent to 328 percent” which “sadly, nobody seems to mind at all.”

Only weeks ago, the Secretary of Budget and Management urged several departments to catch up on their spending to increase the government’s share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which grew by only 4.3 percent in the second quarter of 2023. Thus, we are confronted with a paradox: the need for accelerated government spending juxtaposed over apparent inefficiency in the use of public funds to achieve economic progress.

Clearly, there must be heightened public interest in the way funds are allocated and how hard-earned taxpayers’ money is spent.

In India, the Finance Minister’s announcement of the national budget to the Parliament on the last working day of February is among the most awaited events. One of the most awaited details of the announcement is whether there will be an increase in train fares, and this depends on the budget for the Ministry of Railways that operates Indian Railways. More than 22 million commuters use the rail network daily; more than 3.5 million metric tons of freight are shipped every day.

Much more needs to be done to raise the level of public awareness on the national budget. A representative from Southern Luzon who was elected after the EDSA People Power Revolution wrote to every barangay captain in his district in which a project funded by the national government was located. He requested verification if the funds had been received — and confirmation if the project had been completed.

This demonstration of vigilance to ensure accountability at the grassroots level is a crying need of our times. Perhaps the newly minted Mayors for Good Governance (M4GG) alliance could consider adopting a similar program. Transparent reporting of where and how taxpayers’ money is spent would go a long way toward building public trust.