House vows to restore obligations-based budget for 2019
THE House of Representatives will move for an obligations-based P3.7-trillion budget in 2019 from the cash-based appropriation, which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had recommended, “to reflect the realities of governance,” a House leader said on Friday.
“We will revert to an obligations-based budget. This is not just what Congress wants. Members of the Cabinet who have faced us here in Congress thus far are also apprehensive of the cash-based budget. The requirements of a cash-based budget do not reflect the realities of governance,” Rep. Karlo Nograles of Davao City and chairman of the appropriations committee said in a statement.
A cash-based budget requires all government agencies to spend their obligated funding in a year or lose it.
An obligations-based budget allows agencies to retain its obligated budget for projects at the end of the year even if the projects have yet to be finished. Likewise, an obligation-based budget also allows agencies to allot funds for projects and pay them using next year’s budget.
“Our job in Congress is to ensure the passage of a budget that is in line with the vision of the President: a budget that benefits all Filipinos, especially those in the regions. In a cash-based budget, we are being shortchanged,” Nograles said.
It was Nograles who first called the DBM’s attention on the P77 billion, P35 billion and P95 billion budget cuts of the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH), and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) respectively.
The massive budget cuts worried lawmakers, saying this could result into a lesser budget for their respective districts and constituencies, prompting them to hold an all-member caucus to settle the issue.
Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. of Camarines Sur said after the caucus that all lawmakers have decided to reject the cash-based budget unless the DBM would be able to justify its decision.
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