Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The House Committee on Appropriations began examining on Monday (August 10) the proposed P3 trillion national budget for 2016.
It’s so far the highest budget proposal ever submitted to the House, and some representatives questioned the huge amount that would be spent during an election year.
Bayan Muna said the budget might still contain the disallowed discretionary funds in the form of lump sum funds totalling P147 billion — broken down into P93 billion in calamity funds, P4 billion in contingency funds, and P50 billion for local government units.
Other lump sum funds may also be embedded in other agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation and Communications, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna said in an interview on Monday (August 10): “Actually, based sa aming pagtingin ngayon, umabot na sa 332 billion. Agency-specific na lump sum, 235 billion na ang nakita namin.”
[Translation: “Actually, based on our examination today, (the lump sum funds) have reached P332 billion. As for agency-specific lump sums, we spotted P235 billion.”]
He added: “Ang ibang kasamahan namin nakakita ng at least 430 billion na nga, e. Napakaraming pa ring pork barrel and lump sum sa 2016 budget, at delikado ito dahil election sa 2016. Hindi di ako magtataka kung mas malaki lump sum ngayon kaysa last year.”
[Translation: “Our other colleagues have seen at least P430 billion. There’s still so much pork barrel and lump sum amounts in the 2016 budget, and this is dangerous because of the 2016 elections. I won’t be surprised if the lump sums now are bigger than last year’s.”]
But Budget Secretary Florencio Abad denied the claim, saying the funds were for specific items in the budget.
He said: “The amount of money that Department of Social Welfare and Development set aside for the Pantawid Pamilya Program, if we list down 4.3 million households in budget, masyado namang kakapal yung budget… There’s a listing of all households… For example, pension and guarantee funds — we have list of retirees that will receive the pension and retirement fund. But we cant list all of those names in the budget.”
In a statement, Malacañan reiterated that the government is transparent in the allocation and disbursement of funds.
The Department of Education will have the lion’s share among the government agencies.
Rep. Isidro Ungab, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, said his committee was expected to approve the budget by October.
