MANILA, Philippines – Three government departments that have been slow in utilizing their budget may suffer cuts, the chairman of the appropriations committee of the House of Representatives said Thursday.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles identified these agencies as the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
The funds that would be slashed from these agencies, estimated at P37.5 billion, could be used to augment the budget needed to implement the newly-signed law granting free tuition to students in public tertiary schools, Nograles said.
He elaborated that the three agencies may get hit by budget cuts due to “low absorptive capacity and sluggish implementation of projects and programs.”
Deliberations of the proposed 2018 budget of departments and agencies are ongoing at the House.
“These three agencies can potentially contribute at least P37.5 billion, which can serve as a standby fund once the free college education program is fully implemented in 114 State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), 16 Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) accredited by CHED and 122 Technical-Vocational Institutions (TVIs) under Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA),” he said.
At the budget briefing of DICT, Nograles said he found that the agency has P2.7 billion of unused appropriations in 2016 and P2.695 billion in 2017.
“These 2016 funds will expire on December 31, 2017 and I doubt very much if DICT will be able to utilize the money before the year ends. So, instead of nullifying these funds, I would rather use the money to support the higher education law for free tuition and miscellaneous fees for students in SUCs, LUCs, TVIs,” he said.
He noted that an additional P5 billion can be sourced from DAR and P30 billion from DOTr.
“Another department with low utilization rate is the Department of Agrarian Reform, which failed to utilize P6 billion in 2015, and failed to obligate P5 billion in 2016,” he said.
“The Department of Transportation, on the other hand, failed to utilize P33 billion in 2015, and in 2016 they failed to obligate P30 billion of their budget allocation,” he added.
However, he said, since some of the unused allocations were programmed under the 2015 appropriations, the funds have already expired and reverted to the national treasury.
The unused funds for the 2016 appropriations, on the other hand, will expire in December this year. While they cannot be tapped for the 2018 national expenditure program, the money can be programmed for spending under a supplemental budget.
“So I am looking at considering these funds as savings and writing a supplemental budget to use as standby fund for the free higher education law,” he said.
For 2018, the DICT has submitted a P6.87 billion budget request; DOTr, P73.8 billion; and, DAR, P10.3 billion.