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News
May 22, 2010
Noy told:
‘Don’t do a Gloria’
Release
budget on time - Group
Taking the
lawmakers’ pork barrel hostage, as well as
impounding budget for basic social services
will make President-apparent Benigno
“Noynoy” Aquino III no different from Pres.
Gloria Arroyo who is notorious for taking
control of the people’s purse, budget
activists said.
Prof. Leonor
Magtolis-Briones, lead convenor of Social
Watch Philippines (SWP) which initiated the
internationally-recognized Alternative
Budget Initiative (ABI) said “Aquino should
not do a Gloria” by ordering the release of
the budget on time.
During Pres.
Arroyo’s term, the impounded budget for 2009
alone has reached P140 billion. The
impounded budget represents various fund
transfers from different government
agencies. As “government savings”, it
becomes high discretionary and its use is
subject to presidential prerogative.
“Since last
year, the ABI has been calling for the
release of impounded funds including funds
for health and agriculture programs in the
2008 budget such as P1.8 billion for family
health, P400 million for the tuberculosis
program, P100 million for purchase of
autoclaves, P100 million for the promotion
of organic agriculture and P2 million for
training for system of rice intensification
(SRI) small farmers; and funds in the 2009
General Appropriations Act (GAA) including
P95 million for Protected Areas and Wildlife
Management and P1 billion for
reforestation.” Briones said.
The impounded
budget could have been used by Pres. Arroyo
for purposes other than what was approved by
Congress, including election, specifically
to aid administration’s candidates in the
recently-concluded national and local
elections.
Briones said
while the GMA-approved budget for 2010 may
have tied the hands of her successor, much
of the 2010 National budget remain highly
discretionary and subject to the prerogative
of the Office of the President.
Beside, she said
the claim of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman of
Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s that Sec. 67 of the
General Appropriations Act of 2010, which
calls for the prohibition against
impoundment of appropriations, may have been
covered by Pres. Arroyo’s conditional veto
of the budget. It also means that the issue
is subject to debate and interpretation, she
said.
“What is
dangerous and disturbing is the
pronouncement of LP spokesperson Butch Abad
of LP’s plan to the use pork barrel funds to
win the Speakership of the House. This will
make Pres. Aquino no different from GMA,”
she said.
Jonathan
Ronquillo, environment campaigner of the
nongovernment organization La Liga Policy
Institute (La Liga) warned Pres. Aquino
against messing with the budget, saying it
will only create a wrong impression of him
as being “interested” in controlling the
people’s purse like Pres. Arroyo.
“The best thing
to do is for Pres. Aquino to give back the
power of the purse to Congress and make sure
that the funds are released on time,” he
said.
The group, which
acts as the secretariat of the Environment
Cluster of ABI is a vocal critic of Pres.
Arroyo, for impounding budget, particularly
the 2009 budget for Protected Areas and
National Parks, and two important wildlife
conservation projects – for pawikan or sea
turtle and the Philippine tamaraw.
The group also hit the Department of Budget
and Management (DBM) for withholding the
release of P1 billion under Pres. Arroyo’s
own pet project, the Comprehensive
Livelihood Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP)
for massive tree planting activities which
could have provided jobs and livelihood to
hundreds of thousands of upland dwellers.
“The timely
disbursement of funds is crucial to the
defense of the environment. We have learned
from past experiences under Pres. Arroyo’s
nine-year administration how impounding the
budget hampers the delivery of basic social
and economic services. Pres. Aquino can
avoid that by releasing the budget on time,”
Ronquillo ended. (La Liga Policy Institute)
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