PGMA’s programs for the poor total P45-B -– DBM

MANILA, July 11 (PNA) -- The total existing national welfare budget of the Arroyo administration runs up to P45 billion.

This was revealed today by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. in a press briefing in the palace after the Cabinet meeting today.

Andaya said the funding for the Arroyo government’s national welfare programs are embedded in the budgets of at least four departments – the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Education (DepEd), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) under the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The DBM secretary added that it is actually “absorption” – budget spending -- and not additional budget allocation that is the problem of some agencies which have been found to be slow in spending their allocation for planned projects.

Andaya said some agencies -- which he did not yet identify pending an ‘absorption’ study of government agencies -- failed to spend a total of P4 billion for scheduled projects that should have been implemented during the first quarter of this year.

“Allocate more? They cannot even cope with spending their budgets,” noted Andaya.

As to social welfare projects, the DBM secretary stressed that “all this talk (about social project proposals), ginagawa na yan since 2007.”

Andaya said the budgets should be spent for the departments to be able to reach their intended beneficiaries. “Dapat magastos mo, or it will be re-allocated and put in socially-sensitive projects like irrigation…”

He noted that some departments are “hindi gumagastos ng ganung kalaki. Wala ng oras to make up. We are now re-focusing (un-spent budgets for other projects)…”

“Dadagdagan pa? Di na nga magastos,” added Andaya who further revealed that the slow-spending departments are now “challenged to spend (their budgets).”