‘Fix’ spending delays, procurement in 2023 budget – Recto
DEPUTY Speaker Ralph G. Recto on Monday said the proposed 2023 national budget must “fix” spending delays and procurement controversies.
“When it comes to public spending, the problem is not in budget authorization, or when Congress approves the budget, but in budget execution, when agencies spend the budget given to them,” Recto said.
Recto said the budget is supposed to be spent for the right purpose, at the right time, by the right agency, for the right price.
“But COA (Commission on Audit) reports on procurement fiascos and huge unobligated amounts are a continuing indictment of the failure to obligate funds promptly and properly,” Recto said.
“That failure betrays the public because the tax-budget dynamic is that taxes paid by the people without disputing must be spent for projects that would benefit them without delay. That is the social contract that underpins the budget,” Recto said.
“Pero kung ang pondo para sa hospital ay ‘di nagagasta, kung ang college scholarships ay ‘di napapakinabangan, kung ilang taon ang aabutin bago mabili ang kagamitan ng pulis, kung nasasayang ang bakuna, kung nakatengga ang isang ginagawang kalsada – ito ay mga patunay na malaki pa ang mga problema sa paggugol ng budget,” he said.
Rector said, “the elephant in the room that must be addressed in this particular budget, through a budget provision outlawing the practice, is the parking of funds in the PS-DBM and PITC.”
“Ang nangyayari kasi, ang manok na dapat lutuin agad para maihain sa bayan ay mina-marinate muna ng ilang taon sa mga ahensyang iyan. If the thrust of this budget is recovery from the pandemic, then how fast our recovery is will depend to a large extent on how fast we spend the budget,” Recto pointed out.
“There should be no repeat of last year’s budget utilization rate, when P784.8 billion remained undisbursed [by the end of the] year, on top of P88.8 billion in unreleased appropriations,” Recto said.
