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PHL improves budget transparency – report


The Philippines has improved in terms of budget transparency, a global report released Wednesday said.
 
The Philippines is up by 16 points on the Open Budget Index (OBI) with a score of 64/100. The average global score is 45. 
 
 
"The Government of the Philippines provides the public with substantial budget information," the Open Budget Survey (OBS) 2015 report said. 
 
The survey measures three aspects of fiscal management: transparency, public participation, and oversight. 
 
In terms of public participation, the Philippines also scored high at 67,with the report saying the government provides the public with "adequate opportunities to engage in the budget process." 
 
However, the budget oversight was split. The country was eight points shy of getting a perfect 100 score in terms of budget oversight by the supreme audit institution — the Commission on Audit. 
 
But the OBS reported that budget oversight by the legislature in the Philippines is weak with a score of 36/100. 
 
The report was led by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) and conducted in 102 nations worldwide. For the Philippines, the research was completed by representatives of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. 
 
Recommendations 
 
The Philippines still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of budget transparency, participation, and oversight.

The OBS has a few recommendations. 
 
Transparency:
 
Increase the comprehensiveness of the Executive’s Budget Proposal by, for example, presenting expenditures for a multi-year period by the three expenditure classifications and by program and presenting more information on issues beyond the core budget.
Increase the comprehensiveness of the Year-End Report.

Participation:
 
  • Provide detailed feedback on how public perspectives have been captured and taken into account.
  • Hold legislative hearings to review and scrutinize Audit Reports.
  • Provide detailed feedback on how public assistance and participation has been used by the supreme audit institution.
     
Oversight:
 
  • Ensure the legislature holds a pre-budget debate and the outcome is reflected in the Enacted Budget.
  • Establish regular consultations on budget matters between the executive and the legislature.
  • In both law and practice, ensure the legislature is consulted prior to the virement of funds in the Enacted Budget and the spending of contingency funds that were not identified in the Enacted Budget. 
  • Responses from government, CSO 
 
At the launch of the OBS 2015 Philippine report in Quezon City on Thursday afternoon, representatives from the government as well as Social Watch Philippines Lead Convenor Leonor Magtolis-Briones gave their reaction on the country's latest standing on budget transparency. 
 
Department of Budget and Management  Assistant Secretary Maxine Tanya Hamada read a message from Budget Secretary Butch Abad, who said that to further improve transparency with the national budget, the government is pushing for the passage of the Freedom of Information Act. 
 
Meanwhile, Senate Economic Planning Office Executive Director Merwin Salazar said that there should be more ways to strengthen monitoring of budget implementation.

He added that a number of Senate bills to improve citizens' participation in budgeting are pending . 
 
Moreover, Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department OIC Director-General Romulo Emmanuel Miral Jr. pointed out that there is a need to improve budget implementation reports. 
 
"Budget implementation reports are not as comprehensive as budget preparation stage" he said. 
 
But, it is through implementation reports that the country improves accountability. 
 
For Briones, the international survey still lacks a lot of details. 
 
The foundation of the OBS is a 140-question survey, which is completed by an independent budget expert, which will be later reviewed by another anonymous expert. 
 
Each answer should be backed by documented evidence such as citation of law, interview, and a copy of a document. Some of the aspects the survey explore are publication deadlines and availability of documents. But Briones stressed that what is inside the documents and how the funds were used are far more important. 
 
"We have to take a closer look at the ratings because if we are only interested at the timeliness of the documents, [we] are not really seeing the actual recommendations in the budget data, then it is not useful," she said. — Trisha Macas/JDS, GMA News
Tags: generalappropriationsact, nationalbudget2016
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