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Economic agencies should consolidate Marcos admin's strategy—Hontiveros
Economic agencies should consolidate Marcos admin's strategy—Hontiveros
State economic managers should find time to consolidate the Marcos administration’s economic strategy and be cohesive about it, Senate Deputy Minority leader Risa Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros noted that the current plans of the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) appear “disjointed and disconnected.”
In the first hearing of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) in the Senate, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said the government has four priorities, while NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan identified six priorities.
Budget Secretary Menah Pangandaman, on the other hand, identified eight economic priorities of the government.
“That’s a clear disconnect. The DBCC, which is tasked with overseeing our economy and fiscal policy, must function as a cohesive unit, and not a set of departments planning on their own,” Hontiveros said.
“Sa lahat nang ito, nasaan ba ang Pangulo (In all of these, where is the President)? The economic team must be taking the lead from him,” the senator said.
She also said it is imperative for the economic managers to advise the President even during the budget authorization process so they can ensure that the appropriations are utilized to where it is allocated.
Hontiveros also appealed to the government’s economic team to be more aligned in their strategic priorities for the country’s economy as this will serve as a guide for lawmakers during the deliberations of the national budget.
“We shouldn’t be running in different directions. We don’t want to be pulled from all sides,” she said.
“Our economic team must tighten its strategies, define the concrete results of these strategies, and use every precious peso to achieve these results,” she stressed.
It is also imperative that they advise the President if the budget has already deviated from the Philippine Development Plan that his Cabinet created.
“The welfare of our kababayan is at stake — which is why the DBCC must be clear on its priorities,” she said.
“Para sulit ang paggastos ng kaban ng bayan, importanteng alam natin kung ano ba talaga ang dapat paglagyan nito (For it to be worth spending the public treasury, it is important that we know what it really should be used for),” Hontiveros reiterated.