DBM chief grilled over FLRs in 2022 budget, vows faster releases in 2023

Senator Francis Escudero on Wednesday grilled Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman over projects provided under the 2022 General Appropriations Act but whose respective funds have been tagged as "for later release."

"I heard the Senate president mentioned that there will be no FLRs anymore for 2023. What about the FLRs for 2022?" Escudero asked Pangandaman during the latter's confirmation hearing before the Commission on Appointments committee on budget and management.

"These FLRs are part of the General Appropriations Act. It's a law... So may I ask, when do you intend to complete all the FLRs that have been issued insofar as the 2022 GAA is concerned?" he added.

Pangandaman said she had to check with the Department of Budget and Management the balance in the 2022 national budget which had yet to be released to the agencies.

She said that she would check with the DBM's legal team if it's possible to amend the circular on the FLR policy.

FLR allocations are items in the budget which may only be released with the approval of the President.

In Development Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC) briefing for senators earlier, Pangandaman said there would be no FLRs in the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023.

Escudero asked Pangandaman if the amendments introduced by Congress to the National Expenditures Program that was submitted by the Executive Department would not be treated as FLR by the administration.

Pangandaman said that with allocations deemed as FLRs, the agency involved sends its request to the DBM and the DBM in turn sends it to the Office of the President for approval.

"And once approved by the Office of the President, that's the only time we can release the budget," Pangandaman said.

"With the 2023 budget po, that will not be the case. The amendments of the legislators, the agencies will still have to send a special budget request but mas mabilis na po yan. Isang linggo lang po 'yan," she added.

Escudero said there was a provision in the proposed 2023 budget that the DBM, as a general rule, would consider the budget as a release document if its a line item but may decide which line items may not be released immediately.

"These are line item amendments. So again, we are supposed to have the power of the purse. By the very nature of your department, your part of the Executive Branch that executes the law," Escudero said.

"So my question is if it's a line item amendment and not a lump sum amendment, hindi ba mag-aapply ang budget as released document d'on sa amendment na y'on?" he asked.

Pangandaman said it was the mandate of the DBM to release the budget for the project implementations.

She vowed to stop the practice of other departments' "parking" of funds in the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (PS-DBM).

Pangandaman made the commitment when asked by Senator Risa Hontiveros if she would exercise oversight over the other agencies under the DBM and disallow any downloading of funds to the PS-DBM.

"Most of the budgets of departments, they download their budget to PS-DBM if they cannot finish the project or the program. If you download it to PS-DBM which is corporate in nature, parang obligated na po siya," Pangandaman said.

"So we already asked the [Government Procurement Policy Board] to work on our [implementing rules and regulations] po para hindi ma-download ang pera kung hindi po kayang tapusin ng ahensya," she added.

"I think it's but wise that if you have funding, I think, it's better to be implemented rather than being parked to another agency," Pangandaman said.

Senator Cynthia Villar said legislation should be passed to permanently stop this practice.

"As DBM secretary, you are willing to reform but how about the succeeding DBM secretaries? Maybe we should reform through legislation... So it will be continuing," Villar said. —NB, GMA News