Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno yesterday clarified that the government’s “targeted” financial assistance should continue, but not the general “ayuda” given by the government under the Bayanihan 1 and 2 laws.
Diokno was quizzed during a Senate briefing of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), particularly by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano who noted Diokno’s statement at the House of Representatives that “the giving out of ayuda in relation to the pandemic is already a waste of public funds.”
“So I just like to clarify with Secretary Diokno if my interpretation is correct that we don’t want dole outs, but the targeted can be an effective tool?” Cayetano said.
Cayetano stressed that if the government will target the right families and the right businesses such as sari-sari stores, eateries as well as the public utility vehicle drivers, the assistance can be an “effective tool” for recovery.
He also pointed out that it is a “form of good governance.”
But Diokno insisted that “pandemic-related ayudas at this time is a waste of funds.” He said one of the important projects that need to be funded is the recently passed law which increases the financial assistance to indigent senior citizens to P1,000.
“We don’t even have money for that in this budget. So I would rather put the money there rather than to give a general ayuda in the pandemic sense,” Diokno said.
He also said that the economy has already “fully recovered” and is now at the 2019 level.
“To tell the truth here, your honor, I think we have recovered already. We have fully recovered in the economic sense where at this time, the economy is at the 2019 level,” he said.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) meanwhile said the bulk of the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 will go to the social services sector, getting an allocation of around P2.071 trillion.
During the Senate hearing on the proposed 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP), Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman discussed the sectoral allocation included in the first full-year budget of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration for next year.
Pangandaman, presenting the sectoral breakdown, said the social services sector would get P2.071 trillion or 39.3 percent of the proposed 2023 national budget.
The social services sector, she said, covers education and health.
Coming second in the top priority sectors was the economic services sector which would receive P1.528 trillion or 29 percent of the proposed national budget.
Most of the funds will be used to support the implementation of “Build Better More” Program, Pangandaman said.
“This is consistent with the President’s goal to reduce poverty, usher in economic transformation, and accelerate economic recovery,” she said.
Pangandaman said around P807.2 billion or 15.3 percent of the budget would be given to the general public services sector.
Around PHP611.0 billion (11.6 percent) would go to the debt burden for net lending assistance to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and interest payments, while the remaining
PHP250.7 billion (4.8 percent) will be distributed to the defense sector.
Pangandaman said the proposed budget by expense classification, by recipient units, and by regions.
“We are one with the President in moving the country forward through united efforts for economic transformation,” she said.
Bangko Sentral Monetary Board member Bruce Tolentino presented the macroeconomic outlook for the rest of the year and for the medium-term, while Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan provided an overview of the country’s socioeconomic performance and the prospects for further growth and development.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno also gave an update on the current state of the Philippine economy; the fiscal performance and borrowing efforts; the overview of the medium-term fiscal plan; and the legislative priorities of the Department of Finance.
The Senate Committee on Finance chaired by Senator Juan Edgardo Angara earlier expressed intent to finish the budget deliberations by early to mid-October to ensure the timely approval of the Senate’s version of the 2023 General Appropriations Bill.
