BUDGET INTERPELLATION QUESTIONS FOR DPWH Notable items / areas in the budget Unliquidated funds amounting to:
Issues ●
P126, 419,557.57
Disbursement rates from 2019 vs. 2020
Questions
Given the 2020 COA Audit report, there is an existing P126, 419,557.57 unliquidated funds that were transferred between six National Government Agencies, Government ownedcontrolled corporations in the DPWH.
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See Figure 1 for reference.
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According to the report of the Institute for Leadership, Empowerment and Democracy, the DPWH spending worsened since 2017. In 2020, its disbursement rate went down to 31.2%. This indicates a low absorptive capacity of the DPWH.
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● What is the status of the unliquidated
funds? Why are some infrastructure assets unable to be traced? What was the reason behind rescinded projects? Are there any documents that would support the actual liquidation of this budget?
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Despite several calls from various sectors and a number of lawmakers to cut the budget allotted to DPWH due to its massive underspending problem, amid the need to prioritize the needs of our pandemic response, the agency always enjoys a very minimal cut in its budget. May we know DPWH’s spending performance (FY2020 to your latest data)?
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Can the agency also explain the continued decline in its disbursement rates since 2017? How is the agency addressing this problem considering that this issue is recurring every fiscal year?
See Figure 2 for reference.
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Utilization of 2022 budget in relation to COVID pandemic
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DPWH’s absence of proper coordination between agencies
Proposed 2022 budget of the DPWH. See Figure 3 for reference.
₱4.393 billion budget allotment for health facilities
● COA notes in its 2020 Annual Audit Report that 3,283 infrastructure projects amounting to a total of 108B were not implemented due to absence of proper coordination.
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With the current health situation, how will the ₱685B be fully utilized to alleviate the pandemic? Whereas only 4% of the 2022 national budget has been allotted for the pandemic response, will the DPWH, as the agency with the biggest budget next to education, be amenable to realignment so that the 2022 GAA could reflect a more pandemic responsive approach where the funds can be spent to equally important programs rather than stay idle in the agency’s bank account, or at least utilize its funds outside the earmarked 4%? • In a COA audit report, there are procedural deficiencies that have been found on the infrastructure of quarantine and health facilities. What is the current status of health facilities amounting to exactly ₱4,393,014,250.94? ● When the pandemic began, many facilities were built such as quarantine facilities. May we be enlightened as to the status of these facilities? Some of these facilities, at the beginning of the pandemic, were merely makeshift and were erected in gyms and other already existing facilities under contract or agreement. Once the contracts have lapsed, may we know what happened to the equipment within these makeshift quarantine facilities? ● Can the DPWH, with confidence, say that infrastructure workers are being protected while being in the pandemic? ● Please discuss the circumstances that led to this wastage. What are the areas of concern regarding this absence of proper coordination, and what has the agency done to mitigate any future repetition?
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Reason for DPWH as the 2nd highest allocation for the 2022 budget.
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Breakdown of Departments that will receive highest allocations as stated in the 2022 National Expenditure Program.
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See Figure 4 for reference.
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Given that the DPWH has the second highest allocation budget, and that many people in and outside the government have been voicing out that the program of infrastructures does not really help or does not provide outcome that is very much needed at this time, what can the Department say in defense about the issue of worthiness in receiving high priorities in budget allocation?
FIGURES FOR DPWH QUESTIONS
Figure 1. Breakdown of Untraceable Agencies and Already Abolished
Figure 2.1. DPWH Disbursement Rates
Figure 2.2. Breakdown of Obligations and Disbursements
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Figure 3. Proposed 2022 budget of DPWH
Figure 4. As of 16 August 2021, the 2022 National Expenditure Program
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