1 month ago
8
Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
February 12, 2025 | 5:32pm
Google Street View image shows the exterior of the Department of Budget and Management central office in Manila.
Google Map
ILOCOS NORTE, Philippines — The annual budget is often described as a zero-sum game, with agencies competing for limited fiscal space.
Despite this, the government has failed to utilize at least P309 billion annually since 2018.
This was initially raised by former senator Ping Lacson, who used to chair the Senate Accounts Committee and is currently aiming for a comeback in the upper chamber.
“Pinag-aralan namin mula 2016-2023, ang average unused appropriations P350 billion,” he said in a press briefing on Tuesday, February 12.
(We studied it from 2016-2023, the average unused appropriations is P350 billion.)
Philstar.com reached out to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to confirm these numbers. The DBM said that they only had data from 2018 to 2023.
Lacson's estimate appeared to be in the same ballpark, with the DBM reporting that the average unused appropriations over the six-year period amounted to P309.82 billion.
Multiplying this average by six, the total unused funds since 2018 would be approximately P1.85 trillion.
Philstar.com has reached out to the DBM for the common reason behind underutilization and we will update the story once they respond.
Lacson, however, suggested that the probable cause was the lack of consultation with local government units (LGUs) and development councils.
He added that Congress often reallocates funds, removing and reinserting them in different areas from the original budget.
LGUs and other agencies would not know how to utilize the funds," Lacson said.
He added that the unutilized budget even reached P450 billion during his time.
Unused funds are reverted to the national coffers.
