| Photo by Iryna Tysiak on Unsplash
Former Finance Secretary Margarito “Gary” Teves implored lawmakers and policymakers to reduce unprogrammed appropriations in the national budget. “Reducing unprogrammed appropriations would allow the Department of Finance (DOF) to focus on increasing revenues instead of scrutinizing the funds of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) for excess resources which could be tapped to bankroll unprogrammed projects,” Teves said. Finance Secretary Ralph Recto agreed, “I don’t expect this to continue next year.”
Unprogrammed appropriations, while considered priority insertions and covering the gamut from social programs to disaster response, source funding from undetermined and unreliable sources, such as excess profits from government-owned and controlled corporations and excess tax collections, which are neither guaranteed nor sustainable.
Corollary, the national government formed an interagency committee to deal with the delays in constructing the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) and the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) due to right-of-way issues. Any pragmatic master planner for projects of this magnitude costing over 5X the cost of the scuttled Bataan Nuclear power plant would likely anticipate right-of-way issues well ahead of the commencement of these projects. It is confusing that the government cannot invoke its eminent domain power. Are the litigants so well represented by counsel as to circumvent the greater good for the greater number?
Just recently, Philippine Overseas Gaming Operators who were well in custody during congressional hearings managed to exit the country only to be arrested by a neighboring foreign government just seemed to speak volumes of the impunity outlaws brandish against law enforcement in the country. Such was the embarrassment so plain for the world to see.
What of confidential funds appropriated by callous officials who, in eleven days, spent Php125M on projects that had little to do with intelligence gathering but more overlap with existing social programs more effectively implemented by other executive departments?
“It seems the government is improving only in fraud, waste, opacity, and exploitative practices to the detriment of intended and impoverished segments of society. No one plans to fail; they only fail to plan. It is most true of government.”
Some programs, including skills retraining, entrepreneurship, and loan programs, assist repatriated overseas Filipino workers. It begs the question of how these same programs are not offered before any Filipino is deployed abroad.
There are programs for rebel returnees that provide employment, including in the armed forces, financial assistance, land, and housing, which also begs the question of why the same programs should not be available before any Filipino joins the ongoing rebellion throughout the countryside.
There are programs in the Department of Agriculture that provide grants to 4th-class municipalities, which ignores that pockets of the impoverished exist within 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-class municipalities that would otherwise be eligible for assistance if not for purely geographical reasons.
In the only Christian country in the region, one might think allotting 1% of the gross revenue of any jurisdiction or local government unit, regardless of income, to livelihood generation would be unquestionable. And yet, even in this regard, Filipino politicians plan not to plan. They fail to recognize that any measure of prosperity among their constituents would ultimately translate to more revenue for the LGU. LGUs are the most practical incubators of entrepreneurship.
It seems the government is improving only in fraud, waste, opacity, and exploitative practices to the detriment of intended and impoverished segments of society. No one plans to fail; they only fail to plan. It is most true of government.
–——————————————————-
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Crispin Fernandez advocates for overseas Filipinos, public health, transformative political change, and patriotic economics. He is also a community organizer, leader, and freelance writer.