PBBM orders faster rollout of programs to address government underspending

the DOLE chief said.

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PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on

Tuesday held a Cabinet meeting to fast track the rollout of government programs and address underspending, which plagued several agencies during the first half of the year.

“ The President gave those [agencies] with available funds, strict instructions to ensure social protection will reach their intended beneficiaries,” DOLE Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma said in Filipino during a briefing in Malacañang.

Laguesma was among the Cabinet officials who attended the meeting to present updates on their respective agencies’ budget utilization and catch-up plans.

The respective heads of the Departments of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Health, Agrarian Reform, Energy, Public Works and Highways, Migrant Workers and Transportation also joined the meeting. Last w eek, economic managers said government underspending contributed to the slowdown in economic growth during the second quarter of the year.

Among the iden tified causes for the low disbursement of government agencies were procurement-related difficulties, substantial outstanding checks recorded as of end of June 2023 and billing concerns from suppliers/creditors. To help accelerate government spending, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) proposed the creation of catch-up plans; early release of allotments, conduct of early procurement activities, and simplified Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for the Government Procurement Reform law; launch of the Government Purchase Card program; digitalization of government disbursements and collection; and adoption of Integrated Financial Management Information System across agencies.

Flagship project

LAGUESMA admitted there was a slow pace in the implementation of their flagship emergency employment initiative, the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/ Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program, from January to March this year.

“We needed to have a stringent profiling of the intended beneficiaries to ensure the funds allocated for the program will go to the intended eligible citizens under the program,”

Und er DOLE’s catch-up plan, Laguesma said they are targeting to exhaust their funds before the last quarter of the year, including the P20.13 billion budget allocated for the TUPAD and Government Internship Program for 2023.

Our catch up plan is geared towards being able to utilize all the available funds but always conditioned that it will be given to proper beneficiaries and in compliance with documentary requirements,” Laguesma said.

DOLE hopes to further accelerate the implementation of its programs with the launch of its Labor and Employment Program, which was already approved by the President after being presented to the Cabinet last week.

We are targeting [the launch during] a National Tripartite Conference with an Employment Summit. So sometime in September probably,” Laguesma said.

Reassessment

DSWD Secretary Rexlon “Rex” T. Gatchalian also gave a similar commitment to increase spending once they resume with the implementation of their flagship anti-

Villafuerte bares SPIC budget hike to ₧49.8B

ASENIOR lawmaker on Tuesday said the national government will nearly double the funding for the social pension for indigent senior citizens (SPIC) program to P49.8 billion under the 2024 national budget plan.

C amarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte said this funding will cover the 100 percent increase in the monthly stipend of these aging Filipinos, as provided for in the new law granting additional benefits to the elderly.

However, as for the additional monthly stipend due to the vulnerable elderly population for 2023—as a result of last year’s signing of Republic Act (RA) 11916, Villafuerte expressed the hope anew that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) could ferret out enough funds in the current national budget to be able to carry out fully this year the higher monthly pension of P1,000 for the country’s estimated 4 millionplus indigent seniors.

“Given the still elevated inflation, the decision by President Marcos to double the P500 monthly stipend to P1,000, in keeping with RA 11916, will mean bigger financial assistance for our indigent senior citizens who grapple with the ever-spiraling cost of living,” Villafuerte, a lead author of this amendatory social protection law, said.

“This dramatic increase in the annual outlay of the SPIC program means that far from ending up as a great but unfunded program, this 2022 law will actually spell greater financial relief for our indigent seniors who are in dire need of state subsidies to help them cope with incessantly soaring