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News
June
29, 2010
The first thing P.Noy should do is to
release the impounded funds for basic
services – budget advocates
As the country celebrates the
inauguration into office of President
NoyNoy Aquino and Vice President Jejomar
Binay, the hundred-strong Alternative
Budget Initiative (ABI) reminded them to
immediately release the P140 billion
impounded funds in 2008 for social
development as well as the impounded
funds for health, education, agriculture
and environment in the 2009 budget.
“Even as Filipinos look forward to a new
administration that would uphold human
rights, the Filipinos with no power to
buy food, recently numbering to 12.2
million individuals, is growing; the
number of children dropping out from
grade school and high school due to
poverty, now numbering to 1.4 million
Filipinos yearly, is increasing; and
there is a need to save millions of
mothers and their babies from dying,”
said Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead
convenor of Social Watch Philippines (SWP)
which organized the ABI.
“Nationwide, citizens’ groups comprising
the ABI, found renewed hope because
President Aquino and Vice President
Binay were our staunch partners in
Government in our four-year campaign for
increased allocations for social
services and for budget reforms,” said
former national treasurer Leonor
Magtolis Briones. “They echoed our call
for the release of the impounded funds
and that the “conditional veto” imposed
by former President Gloria Arroyo
violates democracy because it undermines
the legislature’s power of the purse,”
she added.
The conditional veto imposed by the
Office of the President in 2008,
mandated that all budget items included
in the General Appropriations Act (GAA)
as a result of the initiatives of
Senators and Congressmen, are subject to
Presidential approval before these can
be released.
The ABI, which is globally acknowledged
for initiating legislature-citizens’
partnerships for alternative budget
proposals for increased allocations for
critical socioeconomic services, has
been campaigning for the release of
funds in the 2008 and 2009 budgets that
were not released due to conditional
veto. This includes 2008 GAA budget
items of 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. It
also included 2009 GAA budget items such
as P95 million for Protected Areas and
Wildlife Management and P1 billion for
reforestation.
“As ABI partners, we believe that, in
essence, they have the commitment to
immediately release the funds that would
finally uphold human rights and end
poverty. We call on President Aquino and
Vice President Binay to continue their
partnership with the people on pushing
for budget reforms that they have
lobbied for together with the ABI, SWP
and other citizens’ organizations. ^ Back to top
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