The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) strongly defended Malacañang-sponsored insertions at the 2013 budget that are mostly for conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, the item viewed by many critics of the Aquino administration as a form of vote buying for the 2013 elections.
Budget and Management Undersecretary Laura Pascua said she believed that her boss, Secretary Florencio Abad, has fully explained at the congressional hearing called by the House committee on appropriations why there are so many insertions at the 2013 budget that caused it to reach P2 trillion.
The most controversial among the insertions is the CCT program, locally known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P), which is claimed to be a pro-poor initiative of the government and not as a way to woo the people to vote for candidates allied with the Liberal Party (LP), the party of the President.
Abad and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima were both asked repetitively by committee chairman Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya Jr. what the two departments have done to bring down government deficits.
May’s deficit of P22 billion is among the highest in the three-year Aquino administration.
Other members of the DBCC is the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
“It’s the market that dictates the country’s growth. We only manage what’s in our coffers,” Pascua explained to The Daily Tribune.
Although belonging to the LP of the President, Abaya asked Abad and Purisima why the proposed budget for CCT has bloated to P56.2 billion.
Although CCT will be implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), it is the DBM that allocates all the budget releases for all agencies.
Pascua denied that the DBCC is now used as a political tool of President Aquino as the leaders of the four agencies are close to the President.
“The DBCC is mandated to recommend the budget level to the president and to approve the economic and fiscal targets for the year,” Pascua clarified.
The Tribune asked Neda Director General Arsenio Balicasan what transpired at the budget hearing he did not reply.
“Although we are sure that all funds are intended to benefit the country with transparency, especially the poor people, it is the duty and mandate of Congress to put it under scrutiny,” Abaya was quoted as saying.
The CCT is also being opposed by some lawmakers for allegedly promoting mendicancy among the poorest of the poor instead of providing jobs for them.