The Department of Budget and Management is confident that underspending, especially on infrastructure, would be a thing of the past as agencies continue to remove implementation bottlenecks.
A recent Commission on Audit report showed that the Department of Public Works and Highways, a lead implementing agency of the ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program, disbursed only P222.7 billion or just a third of its P662.7-billion allotment last year “due to the delayed/nonimplementation of infrastructure projects.”
But for Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, “there is such a thing as learning by doing.”
“Part of the problem was that there was a delay in the identification of projects under the school building program by the Department of Education. The DPWH received the list from DepEd late into the fiscal year,” Diokno explained to the Inquirer last Friday.
“The DepEd learned from this experience. This year, the school building lists have been promptly prepared. In addition, given that the size of the DPWH has tripled, we have created more positions,” Diokno said.
“With more manpower, closer coordination with the DepEd, and the budget approach (cash-based), I’m confident that the DPWH will deliver on its mandate in 2018 and in the years ahead,” Diokno added.
Last week, the DBM said that the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019 would be spent mostly on projects supportive of “Build, Build, Build” as well as human capital development.
For next year, the DPWH will be allocated P555.7 billion, the second biggest amount and up 68.3 percent from its cash-based budget for 2018.
The Department of Transportation, meanwhile, will be allotted P76.1 billion, 89.3-percent larger than this year.
To be submitted to Congress on July 23 or the same day as President Duterte’s third State of the Nation Address, the cash-based budget proposal for next year will prioritize spending on public infrastructure and social services, the DBM said in a statement on Friday.
“Higher investments on infrastructure will support economic growth, targeted to reach 7-8 percent in 2019, create jobs, and spur opportunities in the countryside. Spending for human capital, such as education, healthcare, and social protection, will mold the country’s young population into a world-class and competent workforce capable of sustaining the Philippine’s growth momentum,” the DBM said.
As such, the DBM said that the education sector—across primary, secondary and tertiary as well as technical and vocational education—would get the largest allocation worth P659.3 billion, 12.3-percent bigger than its cash-based equivalent in this year’s budget.
The social welfare and health sectors will be allocated P173.3 billion and P141.4 billion, respectively.
“We are sticking to our plan of focusing on “Build, Build, Build” and social services. These are the priorities we identified as early as the beginning of our term, and we will see to it that investments in these sectors are sustained,” according to Diokno.—BEN O. DE VERA