Budget BabeNov 25, 2022

The Bicam began debates today to finalise the 2023 Proposed National Budget.

Tbh, scrutiny and coverage of the 2023 NEP has been narrowly focused on the Confi and Intel Funds. It’s important to flag them, yes.

But in the greater scheme of things, the 9B+ CIFs is but a tiny fraction of the 5.3T 2023 proposed budget.

What about the rest of it? I felt that in the Senate, there was a serious lack of questioning on the budget philosophy and thus, the way that the 2023 NEP was structured.

Show threadBudget BabeNov 25, 2022

These are the trade-offs we found in our analysis of the 2023 NEP.

It would have been reasonable to ask why these choices were made in favor of many others.

Given our current economic situation and the needs of various sectors, why was the budget structured this way?

Show threadBudget BabeNov 25, 2022

Many questions were raised about specific allocations especially programs that suffered cuts and those that received avalanches in funding.

Those are good ones, but it’s about time to frame our critique of the budget in the broader context of the economy and state politics.

BrendaNov 25, 2022
Show threadBudget Babe
For instance, why was it more important for the Exectuive branch to pump up the Pension and Gratuity Fund and the Miscellaneous and Personnel Benefit Fund? That is, why is it more important to pay pension arrearages + salary increase of gov’t workers over unpaid benefits of HCWs?
Nov 25, 2022 at 2:55pmWeb
Show threadBudget BabeNov 25, 2022

curecovidph and @nagkaisa Coalition have both been asking why the payment of benefits of COVID-19 health frontliners is severely delayed. Even DOH OIC Vergeire said they needed billions to settle the obligations.

Second, why is there a 150B+ allocation for local infrastructure projects in the budget of DPWH despite the implementation of the Madanas-Garcia Ruling?

The amount is over and on top of the 820B NTA of LGUs. Didn’t the national gov’t say the fiscal space is already tight?

Show threadBudget BabeNov 25, 2022
The @MoveAsOnePH has also flagged the rail-centric budget of the DOTr. Though I agree that the mass transport should have been developed a long time ago, what does gov’t intend to do with the massive shortage in road-based transport supply?
Show threadBudget BabeNov 25, 2022

Third, I agree that education and agriculture need to be prioritized, but it bears noting that the crises in learning and food inflation aren’t just about funding.

What do DepEd and DA intend to do about inefficiency in procurement and thus budget utilization?

Well, at least Senators Pia Cayetano and Gatchalian managed to surface issues about the slow disbursement of DepEd.

Show threadBudget BabeNov 25, 2022

In any case, it also bears noting that DepEd and DA received massive increases bec the President and the Vice-President are concurrent Cab Secs of those departments.

Finally, the business-as-usual budgets for people-centered programs in the face of increasing poverty stats and the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The problems didn’t end when the lockdowns ended. What’s in the budget to support inclusive recovery?