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Plenary Hall of the House of Representatives

Presumptive House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and allies arrive at the Plenary Hall of the House of Representatives in Quezon City on October 13, 2020.   Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

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Vivienne Gulla

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives expressed opposition to the unprogrammed appropriations in the proposed 2025 national budget, which they called “Presidential Super Pork”.<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none">According to the definition of the Department of Budget and Management, unprogrammed appropriations are those which provide standby authority to incur additional agency obligations for priority programs or projects, when revenue collection exceeds targets, and when additional grants or foreign funds are generated, “Kaya natin ngayon tinatawag na Presidential Super Pork itong unprogrammed appropriations… kasi sobrang discretionary, kagaya ng confidential funds, ‘yung mga lump sum,” Kabataan Party List Rep. Raoul Manuel said.Manuel noted that one of the sources of unprogrammed funds is the excess funds of government owned and controlled corporations.The proposed 2025 budget allocates P158.67 billion for Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA), which may be released under specific conditions: when there are new revenue collections by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), revenue collections in any one of the identified revenue sources exceed targets per Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BESF), and/or when proceeds from foreign loans approved but not considered in the TEP are received.“Sa huli, iilan lang ang magpapasya d&#x27;yan. Kahit na ang Kongreso, aaprubahan niya ano ‘yung laman ng unprogrammed appropriations… pero ‘yung [Department of Budget and Management], ‘yung alter ego ni Marcos Jr. dahil diyan sa 15 sub-section B, DBM is hereby authorized to approve the following, use of amounts under the purposes of UA, except ‘yung dalawa… GOCCs and foreign-assisted projects, pero the rest, kahit na may nakalagay na amounts na ‘yan, pwede pa rin galawin at maglipat- lipat depende sa kung ano ang marked as priority ng administrasyon… Para saan pa na nagba-budget tayo?” Manuel explained.“Itigil na ang paggamit ng unprogrammed appropriations, kasi naba-bastardize ang budget process, lalung napapahina ang power ng legislative branch para sa pagcheck ng proposed budget galing sa executive branch,” he urged his colleagues in Congress.Gabriela Party List Rep. Arlene Brosas supported the call, saying Congress seemed to be approving 2 funds - programmed and unprogrammed.“Parang dalawa yung inaaprubahan nating pondo. Isa sa programmed at isa sa unprogrammed,” she observed.The DBM had said that in the past that there is no irregularity in allocating unprogrammed funds, adding that there are “triggers” before they can be released.Under the 2025 National Expenditure Program, the Marcos Jr. administration’s proposed unprogrammed appropriations total P158.6 billion or 2.5 percent of the P6.532 trillion proposed national budget. This figure is 78.31% lower than the unprogrammed appropriations for the current year, according to the DBM.“Ang unprogrammed po kasi talagang standby fund eh at majority po ng nilalagay namin dito are foreign-assisted projects po na hindi pa naa-approve ng ICC Board at saka NEDA Board. Now, when we release the budget circular po, may deadline po kami doon na by March 31, kung ano lang iyong mga na-approve ng NEDA Board – iyon lang po iyong ipapasok namin sa programa and then all the rest ay ilalagay namin sa unprogrammed appropriations – ito po iyong mga foreign-assisted na nakikita namin na maa-approve naman within the year, so kailangan din po natin lagyan ng standby fund for the GOP counterpart and the loan proceeds because we haven’t received the loan proceeds yet,” DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman explained.

Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives expressed opposition to the unprogrammed appropriations in the proposed 2025 national budget, which they called “Presidential Super Pork”.

Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives expressed opposition to the unprogrammed appropriations in the proposed 2025 national budget, which they called “Presidential Super Pork”.

'Super Pork': Makabayan bloc blasts unprogrammed funds in proposed budget

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'Super Pork': Makabayan bloc blasts unprogrammed funds in proposed budget

Vivienne Gulla,

ABS-CBN News

Published Aug 02, 2024 08:56 AM PHT

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House of Representatives

2025 national budget

unprogrammed funds

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