A lawmaker at the House of Representatives on Monday said the districts that suffered budget cuts for next year have registered low disbursement rates for the current year.
In a press conference on Monday, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone justified the House leadership's move to realign some PHP51.792 billion–originally meant for regional infrastructure projects–from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 2019 budget to fund other government programs.
“How can you justify putting, allocating huge amounts for these districts which cannot implement projects?” Evardone said.
Evardone, in a separate text message, described disbursements as payments of work done on projects, which is indicative of the district's capability to implement projects.
Based on the detailed breakdown of Statement of Allotments, Obligations, and Disbursements as of Aug. 31, Evardone particularly cited that the three districts of Palawan have registered disbursement rates of 19.05 percent, 15.30 percent, and 29.74 percent–all of which are below the target of 40 percent.
He also noted that Romblon has a low disbursement rate of only 23.30 percent.
Region IV-B–composed of the provinces of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan–suffered a reduced allocation of PHP10.382 billion from the DPWH funds.
“I think isa ‘to sa nakita ng leadership kung bakit kailangan i-reallocate ito. Kasi sayang eh. Kung hindi mo magagamit yung pondo, babalik sa National Treasury. In the meantime, inutang yan ng national government, we are paying the interest, walang productive side, mababa (I think this is one of the reasons of the leadership for the reallocation because it's wasteful. If you cannot utilize the funds, it will revert to the National Treasury. In the meantime, the national government loaned these funds, we are paying the interest, and there's no productive side. So it would be a waste),” Evardone said.
On Tuesday, the House, convening as a Committee of the Whole, approved the realignment of some PHP51.792 billion under the DPWH 2019 budget to fund various programs of other government agencies.
The realigned funds originally meant for DPWH regional projects are now allotted for the construction of Tech-Voc Laboratories under the Department of Education (PHP3 billion); farm to market roads under the Department of Agriculture (PHP3 billion); state universities and colleges (SUCs) capital outlays (PHP1.2 billion); health human resources deployment (PHP3 billion) and health facilities (PHP3 billion) under the Department of Health; roads to tourist destinations (PHP10.8 billion), roads for trade and economic zones (PHP10.79 billion), and roads and bridges to decongest traffic (PHP10 billion) under the DPWH; and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund (PHP5 billion). (Filane Mikee Cervantes/PNA)
