By Joann Villanueva – PNA
MANILA — Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno stressed that allegations of government underspending this year is uncalled for, citing that they even exceeded a bit in the first nine months this year due to front-loading during the dry season.
In a briefing Wednesday, Diokno said spending in the first nine months of the year reached PHP2.49 billion, higher than the PHP2.43 trillion programmed for the said period.
As of October, government spending reached PHP2.8 trillion, 25 percent higher than the PHP2.24 trillion same period in 2017.
“The reason for the overspending is we took advantage of the dry season,” he said.
Diokno said spending for the implementation of programs left by the previous administration is another reason for the strong growth of government expenditures this year.
Amid the overspending as of last September, Diokno said he expects expenditures to normalize and stay within-target by the end of the year.
“The reality is we cannot spend what Congress has authorized us to spend,” he said.
Relatively, the Budget chief said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released 96.3 percent or PHP3.629 trillion of this year’s PHP3.767-trillion national budget as of November 22.
Of the total amount, PHP5.24 billion was released for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Basic Education Facilities, PHP2.55 billion for the payment of right-of-way claims for properties affected by the construction of the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road Project and PHP730 million for right-of-way claims for properties affected by the construction of the C-5 Northern Link Road Project, Phase 2, Segment 10 from MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela City to Malabon and C-3 Road in Caloocan City.
Also, PHP590 million was released as subsidy to the Philippine Postal Corporation for the delivery of mails of offices with franking privileges, PHP990 million for the Department of Public Works and Highway’s (DPWH) Program for the Support for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Marawi City and its surrounding areas; and PHP560 million for the Loan Proceeds requirement for the implementation of the Metro Manila Subway Project Phase 1.
The government is firm on increasing its infrastructure investments in a bid to put in place various projects that will have long-term effect on the economy and ensure that domestic expansion will be more inclusive.
