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With early budget signing, Palace sees no delay in infra projects


With President Benigno Aquino III's expected signing of the P1.645-trillion budget for 2011 on Monday, Dec. 27, Malacañang expects no more delay in the implementation of government projects lined up for next year. Deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said the projects will be assured of their respective allotments once Aquino signs the budget at the Rizal Hall in Malacañang. “With the early signing of the budget, our infrastructure projects like repair of roads and bridges can be done in January when the weather is more conducive for construction," a Malacañang statement quoted Valte as saying. In a separate statement over the weekend, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said his department has been holding meetings with five departments involved in key infrastructure projects and social protection programs to draw up a budget execution strategy. These are Public Works and Highways, Transportation and Communications, Agriculture, Health, and Social Welfare and Development departments. "It is just appropriate for us to craft budget execution strategy in a timely manner," Abad said. Apart from defining the policies and objectives of the General Appropriations Act, the budget execution strategy will also lay down the monthly schedule of cash requirement of the departments, Abad said. The schedules would show not only the budgetary disbursements but also the projects to be realized, he added. Abad pointed out that the strategy will allow the government to "front load and accelerate spending on critical programs and projects that foster economic growth and improve the lives of the poor." The Budget department will also look for ways to accelerate allotments and issuance of cash to support the departments' implementation of their critical programs and projects. For instance, the Education Department should be able to determine the schedule of the construction of classrooms before the school year starts, and the Budget department, in return, should be able to match the funding requirements needed, Abad explained. "This mechanism also allows us to take a step towards output- and outcome-based budgeting. In other words, we do not want to just spend for the sake of spending," Abad said. First time Valte noted it is the first time in over a decade that the budget will be signed before the start of the actual fiscal year. “We are very happy that the national budget will be signed earlier than before. This will be very beneficial for our people. As early as January, funds will already be available for the projects in line next year," she said. Also, Valte said the early signing of the budget shows the full trust and confidence of Congress on the Aquino administration. She also said Aquino has allocated the necessary funding for key agencies that will directly implement developmental projects of government, to upgrade the government’s basic services to the people. These agencies include the Department of Justice (DoJ) for the speedy resolution of cases, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for a more efficient collection of taxes. The P1.645-trillion budget for next year is 6.8 percent higher from the P1.54-trillion national budget for 2010. Both houses of Congress approved their versions of the budget last December 13 and 14. The budget includes an additional allocation of P300 to P400 million to the Senate and another P50 million to the House, restoring their respective budgets in the 2010 General Appropriations Act (GAA). These were earlier slashed by the President as part of belt-tightening measures. Also, the budget includes P200 million in priority additional funds for the Office of the Vice President (OVP), which was earlier cut from P195-million to P177 million. The education sector had the biggest budget increase of P750 million to enable the hiring of 5,000 new teachers. - KBK, GMANews.TV

Tags: 2011budget
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