Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has asked the Department of Health to reallocate P5 billion in obligation deficit from 2018 appropriations to various health projects to boost healthcare initiatives.
Arroyo and Committee on Health chairman Angelina Tan of Quezon presided a joint meeting on the expenditures of the DOH, particularly to assess the agency’s performance for fiscal years 2017 to 2019 and discuss the budget of the agency for 2020.
Arroyo called on the DOH to lay out its plans for unobligated funds from its 2018 appropriations. She reminded the agency that a joint resolution of the Senate and the House to carry over the 2018 budget to 2019 has been approved by President Rodrigo Duterte, meaning unutilized 2018 funds should be used in 2019.
“If you haven’t obligated them, do you plan to obligate them or reallocate them somewhere else?” Arroyo asked.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque conceded to the request, noting that P97 billion was obligated in 2018 and that the unobligated P5 billion represents a small percentage of the DOH funding.
Meanwhile, DOH Undersecretary Mario Villaverde reported that based on the 2019 National Expenditure Program the DOH budget decreased by 34 percent from P106 billion in 2018 to P70 billion in 2019 due to the transition to cash-based budgeting.
The budget for Personal Services increased from P34 billion last year to P38 billion because of the fourth tranche of the salary standardization.
The budget for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses was reduced from P41 billion in 2018 to P31 billion in 2019 largely due to the transfer of the DOH budget for its human resources employment program to the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefit Fund.
Finally, funding for Capital Outlay which comprised the budget for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program was cut from P31 billion in 2018 to P50 million.
In terms of physical performance, the DOH was able to deliver 29 out of 35, or an average of 83 percent of its annual targets, for 2018.
In 2017, the DOH met 26 of 31 indicators or an average of 84 percent.
From 2017 to 2018, the average obligation rate of the DOH reached 95 percent.
However, the agency’s average disbursement rate for the same period stood at 62 percent. Disbursements were particularly low in MOOE and CO budgets.
Villaverde reasoned that disbursement was low for the HFEP because payment on construction projects is by progress billing and due to external clients submitting billings late.
In addition, low disbursement was recorded for public health programs because the delivery of goods was scheduled for the first quarter of 2019; limited warehouse space delaying delivery of goods, and changes in requirement prior to payment and delays in quality checks for procured commodities.
But Villaverde assured Congress that the DOH already has measures in place to efficiently ramp up capital expenditure projects.
“Where from a dismal disbursement of 13 percent in 2017, we have almost tripled our last year’s performance to 32 percent. Of course, this is still much to be improved, but we are up to this challenge and we are adjusting our system to finally improve on the utilization of this particular budget for this line item,” he said.
For the first quarter of 2019, the DOH has thus far received an obligational authority of 25 percent of the MOOE and CO.
The PS was based on the actual requirement as of December 31, 2018, in the total amount of P14.9 billion. The DOH has obligated P10 billion or 70 percent of this amount and disbursed P8 billion or 53 percent of the allotment in the first quarter of 2019.
