Abad Thanks Congress for Early Ratification of 2011 Reform Budget; Says President Could Sign Spending Law Earlier than December 30

Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad yesterday lauded the House of Representatives and the Senate for the early ratification of the proposed P1.645-trillion national budget for 2011, allowing the President to sign it into law before the year ends.

“Our legislators’ diligence and sense of duty made it possible for them to ratify the proposed 2011 Reform Budget as scheduled. The best way to express our gratitude to them is to fulfil our part, which is to have the President sign it into law on or even before December 30,” he said. 

“Ang bagong uso ngayon ay maagang naisasabatas ang pambansang budget. Iwinawaksi natin ang masalimuot at balot-sa-dilim na kalakaran ng pagre-reenact (The new trend now is the early enactment of national budgets. We are shunning the convoluted and shadowy practice of re-enacted budgets),” he stressed. 

Secretary Abad stressed that the 2011 Reform Budget paves the way for the succeeding national budgets to be enacted on time. The 2011 spending plan will be the first budget since the 1999 national budget that is signed into law before the fiscal year starts. Once the Executive receives the enrolled 2011 General Appropriations Bill shortly after it is ratified, it will take at least ten days for the Department of Budget and Management to peruse the Congress-approved budget, prepare a budget affirmation or veto message, if warranted, and print the budget for signing by the President into law. 

He stressed that this early enactment is not merely a temporal matter, for it allows the Aquino administration to have a good and early start in implementing its priority programs in poverty reduction and human development. 

He said it is possible now to frontload the implementation of government infrastructure programs to take advantage of good weather in the first semester. He added that efforts to institute transparency and accountability in public expenditure management are bolstered by this development. 

“Congress did not only agree with our proposed spending levels for conditional cash transfers, basic education and maternal and child healthcare. They also supported our proposed measures to shed daylight in the disbursement of public funds,” he said. 

“The 2011 national budget is the first financial blueprint of the Aquino administration. And we thank Congress for helping us have a spending program that is in line with fulfilling the promise of ‘kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap,’” he stressed.

(Source: DBM Press Release, Wednesday, December 15, 2010)

Underspending will not compromise growth - Budget Secretary Florencio Abad

MANILA, Nov. 23 (PNA) -– Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad on Tuesday said the economy’s growth will not be affected by the Aquino administration’s decision to limit expenses.

In the first 10 months of this year, expenditures totaled to P1.26 trillion, a six percent jump over the P1.19 trillion year-on-year.

This is, however, 5.3 percent or P70.1 billion lower than the P1.33 trillion program for the 10-month period, Abad said.

For October alone, disbursement totaled to 109 billion, a 12.7 percent drop compared to the P124.9 billion program for the month due to the lower operating and interest payments.

Abad attributed the lower-than-programmed disbursement to, among others, the lower funding requirement after the front-loading in the first half of the year, lower maintenance and other operating expenditures (MOOE) of the various agencies, lower personnel service releases, and under-spending in net lending among government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).

He said that amid the drop in disbursement capacity of national government agencies, their utilization rate got better at 99.3 percent last October from the previous month’s 97 percent.

“We have consistently spent below target in the past four months, and that is way better than the leakage-laden overspending regime that we have had in the past,” he said.

And, because spending is kept under control compared to the over-spending in the first half of the year, Abad is confident that the budget deficit this year would remain within the P325 billion ceiling.

“We are also in a better position to manage our debt and deficit in the medium term,” he said.

Growth of the domestic economy is now assured and would further be solidified by the administration’s public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, he said, citing investors’ optimism on the administration’s ability to “achieve fiscal targets through good governance.”

On the other hand, Abad cited that spending for subsidies of GOCCs was higher-than-programmed by P2.7 billion or 20.1 percent because of the full release of the P8 billion for National Food Authority’s (NFA) price stabilization and food security program.

He said that of the P1.5406 trillion obligation program for this year, some P1.308 trillion of allotment authorities has been issued as of last October while the P232.5 billion or 15.1 percent of the total is still available for the last two months of this year.

He said some P100.4 billion of appropriations for MOOE and capital outlay can be utilized for November and December this year.

“This amount could be fully or partially utilized, considering our continued use of the zero-based budgeting approach to make budget execution more efficient. Clearly, we have enough room to maneuver in managing our year-end deficit,” he added.

As of last October, budget gap was lower than the P292.8 billion program at P270.3 billion. This year’s budget deficit ceiling is P325 billion.

The growth target for this year is between five to six percent while actual growth, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), in the first half of the year, stood at 7.9 percent. (PNA)

Timely 2011 reform budget enactment clearer -- Budget Secretary Butch Abad

MANILA, Nov. 10 (PNA)--Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio Abad on Wednesday said that prospects for the timely enactment of the proposed P1.645-trillion Reform Budget for 2011 are clearer after the House of Representatives has passed it on third reading on Tuesday.

He also lauded the House of Representatives led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, in voting 175 vs. 21 in favor of the proposed spending measure last night, for keeping the increased investments in social services, as well as special provisions promoting transparency and accountability intact.

“We’re happy that the House passed the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on its first day after returning from the break. We’re also happy that the House kept the GAB to be substantially in line with the social investment and reform thrust of the Aquino Administration,” Abad also said.

“It is important to us that the national budget is passed on time, to enable the government to implement programs and projects in a timely manner. Especially in infrastructure projects, a lot of wastage happens if project implementation is done in bad time and bad weather,” he added.

The economic manager said the GAB passed by the House retains the substantial investments in social services that the Aquino administration had planned for 2011. In particular, the expanded conditional cash transfer (CCT) program worth P21 billion will allow the Aquino government to provide direct and substantial support to 2.3 million indigent households.

He is also glad that together with the CCT, the House retained significant funding for a complete package of social services particularly in education and healthcare.

Under the proposed 2011 spending plan, the budget for Department of Education increased by P32.3 billion—-the largest in over a decade—to significantly address chronic resource gaps.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health’s budget for the construction and upgrading of rural health facilities doubled to P7.1 billion, while the immunization program’s funding also increased by almost 300% to P2.5 billion.

“But more than the amounts appropriated, we’re happy that the House supported the special provisions in the budget to promote transparency, accountability and good governance,” he said.

Such include the mandatory online publication of budget and project implementation details, and provisions that make the release of lump-sum funds (e.g. for irrigation and farm-to-market roads) contingent on master plans crafted by the implementing agencies.

With the House’s passage of the GAB right on schedule, Abad said he looks forward to the Senate doing the same, as has been assured by Senate Finance Committee chair Senator Franklin Drilon.

If passed by the Senate on time, the Bicameral Conference Committee can convene early in December. As originally scheduled, both Houses are set to approve the harmonized version of the budget by December 16.