Lacson cites DBM data showing underspending of Bayanihan 2 funds

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Monday bared Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data to show that there is an underspending of Bayanihan To Recover As One Act (Bayanihan 2) funds.

This was his response to President Rodrigo Duterte who claimed that he and Senate President Vicente Sotto III have raised the issue of underspending of Bayanihan 2 appropriations.

“After PRRD falsely accused me of saying that they underspent under Bayanihan 2, I became curious. Here it is: Underspending is determined NOT by RELEASES but by OBLIGATIONS & DISBURSEMENTS. Obligation Rate is 78.84%, while Disbursement Rate is 69.49%. Is there underspending? YES!” Lacson said in a tweet.

After PRRD falsely accused me of saying that they underspent under Bayanihan 2, I became curious. Here it is: Underspending is determined NOT by RELEASES but by OBLIGATIONS & DISBURSEMENTS. Obligation Rate is 78.84%, while Disbursement Rate is 69.49%. Is there underspending? YES!

— PING LACSON (@iampinglacson) July 25, 2021

He posted a latest DBM data which showed that out of the P205.117 billion allotment under Bayanihan 2, the use of funds was as follows:

• Obligation Rate: 91.58% (P187.844B)
• Disbursement Rate: 75.30 (P141.447B)

These leave P17.273 billion unobligated funds and P46.397 billion undisbursed funds or a total of P63.67 underspending by the government, according to Lacson.

In a separate statement, Lacson explained that obligation is a commitment by a government agency arising from an act of a duly authorized official which binds the government to the immediate or eventual payment of a sum of money.

“The agency is authorized to incur obligations only in the performance of activities which are in pursuit of its functions and programs authorized in appropriations acts/laws within the limit of the allotment released by the DBM,” he said.

Meanwhile, disbursement refers to the settlement/liquidation/payment of an obligation incurred in the current or prior years, involving cash or non-cash transactions and covered by disbursement authorities.

"Thus, funds are deemed obligated when the contracts for the projects have been signed. Funds are deemed disbursed when the funds are actually paid to the suppliers," Lacson said.

"Releasing the funds is a step toward spending but it is not spending itself. Just because the DBM released the funds does not mean the funds are spent. If the implementing agencies that got the funds from the DBM are incompetent, the funds won't reach the beneficiaries," he added.

For Lacson, the “bad thing” was that the Bayanihan 2 Law had already expired last June 30 which means the aid for the rightful beneficiaries will no longer be released unless a new law is passed.

He said underspending is a “disservice to many, to say the least” including the education sector for the Department of Education’s “online learning program” as well as the transport sector over the financial aid for public transportation drivers, among others.

In a televised Cabinet briefing Saturday, Duterte claimed that only one percent of Bayanihan 2 funds remained unused.

The President had asked Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III to respond to criticisms of Lacson and Sotto on Bayanihan 2 spending.

Both lawmakers have denied that they were the ones who launched criticisms about the alleged underspending of funds under the said law.

In a virtual press conference Monday morning, Sotto told reporters that Duterte was “given a wrong information” about their criticisms on spending.

“If there is another member of the Senate who mentioned about [Bayanihan 2] being unspent, after the June 30 [due date] of Bayanihan 2, something like that, it’s not us  and it is not Senator Lacson,”  Sotto said in mixed English and Filipino.—AOL, GMA News