Drilon: Gov’t can tap parked funds in various agencies to aid Typhoon Odette victims

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday said the government could tap the released but undisbursed funds sitting idly in the accounts of various government agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) to aid the victims of Typhoon Odette.

The opposition lawmaker made the statement as he lamented President Rodrigo Duterte’s remark, claiming that the government funds were already depleted due to the country’s COVID-19 response.

“I am saddened by the President’s statement that the government has no money to assist the typhoon victims. The [Department of Finance] can do a `cash sweep’ of the released, but undisbursed, funds parked in the bank accounts of national government agencies and GOCCs,” Drilon said in a text message to reporters.

He noted that the DOF has recently done a “cash sweep” to raise funds for the government’s COVID-19 response.

The minority chief recalled previous Senate hearings where senators learned that the national government agencies have “very poor” disbursement or utilization rates of funds that were already released to them.

As an example, Drilon cited the Department of Public Works and Highways’ disbursement rate which is at around 30 percent.

He also suggested realigning the funds of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to the government's relief operations.

During the Senate plenary debates on the proposed 2022 budget, it was revealed that only 26 out of the 2,318 projects for 2021 have been completed by the NTF-ELCAC. Over 700 are still in the procurement stage, while 560 are ongoing implementation.

Apart from this, Drilon also highlighted “billions of pesos parked in the coffers” of the controversial Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) and the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) for “unimplemented projects.”

“By doing a ‘cash sweep’, the  projects’ implementation are simply postponed to 2022, since the 2021 [General Appropriations Act] is extended to December 2022. As they say, if there is a will, there is a way,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senate finance committee chairman Sonny Angara said Duterte could realign the 2021 funds which are already tagged as savings.

“Dito naman sa 2021 budget kung may savings ang mga ahensya, puwede i-realign ni PRRD sa calamity response,” Angara said in a separate text message to reporters.

(If there are savings from the agencies under the 2021 budget, PRRD could realign these for the calamity response.)

“Way it was done then was ruled unconstitutional, but power to realign savings is constitutional and must be exercised in certain ways, according to [the Supreme Court ruling] in [Disbursement Acceleration Program] cases,” he explained.

The lawmaker said the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) could determine if the calamity funds were already depleted.

Once Duterte signed the proposed P5-trillion 2022 national budget, Angara said the government will have over P20 billion funds to help the victims of the typhoon.

“‘Pag napirmahan na ni PRRD ang 2022 budget [mayroong] over P20 billion na magamit para tumulong sa nasalanta at mga nawalan ng bahay at hanapbuhay,” he said.

(Once PRRD signs the 2022 budget, we have over P20 billion which we could use to help those who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the typhoon.)

On Tuesday, an official of a think tank said that the Philippines still has Special Purpose Funds (SPF) which the government may tap for emergency relief operations amid Duterte’s remarks on government’s depleting funds.

According to iLEAD executive director Zyra Nadine Suzara, the government could source funds from the P6.5 billion total available balance of the 2020 and the 2021 NDRRM Fund and the Contingent Fund, along with the unutilized balance in this year’s national budget.

Citing data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Suzara said that only P3.4 trillion of the P4.5 trillion has been released to government agencies as of December 1, 2020.

“Therefore, there is around P1.1 trillion in the 2021 GAA that has not be used. Might be lower if that is updated to status of fund to date, but there is no way P1.1 trillion can be spent in a matter of a few weeks,” she explained.

Latest data from the DBM show that as of November 20, 2021, 92.5% of the P4.506-trillion budget or P4.166 trillion has already been released, leaving a total of P339.925 million.

SPFs are programmed appropriations in the General Appropriations Act to cover expenditures for specific purposes for which recipient departments or agencies have not yet been identified during budget preparation.

Among the SPFs are the NDRRM Fund, formerly Calamity Fund; Contingent Fund; Pension and Gratuity Fund; and Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund.

On Tuesday night, Duterte has ordered the release of funds from the Office of the President to extend help to typhoon-stricken communities.—AOL, GMA News