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You’re a government official or head of a public agency who
received advanced money for a trip, a workshop or a similar official
activity. You are supposed to account for it or “liquidate” it
on the completion of the project, right? Not if you are a Filipino
bureaucrat or lawmaker. You take your time explaining how you spent
every centavo. Or you don’t submit any liquidation report at all.
The government owes Filipino taxpayers billions
in unliquidated cash advances, about P4.8 billion in 2005. The
Executive and the Legislative are notorious for receiving billions
and not liquidating them or returning unspent amounts. The
Commission on Audit reported last month, according to a PCIJ special
report, that the Office of the President as of 2007 had millions of
unliquidated cash advances related to official travel, donations and
loans. The Executive Secretary said the expenses were justified and
legal; the Palace was meeting the requirements of COA.
Rep. Roman Romulo of Pasig City says the problem
is government-wide and needs to be dealt with. He has introduced a
bill to encourage prompt liquidation of money advances and to
penalize wrongdoing.
House Bill 3811 seeks to amend Article 217 of
the Revised Penal Code to make the failure to account for advances,
provided there is a prima facie proof of malversation, punishable by
a 20-year jail term. It imposes perpetual disqualification from
public service on public officials and employees who violate COA
rules. Violators shall pay a fine equal to the money malversed or to
the total value of property embezzled. It makes the offense a
felonious act.
Romulo, one of the 100 freshmen in the House,
says widespread failure to account for advances has distorted the
financial health of the government. “This inaccuracy affects the
data gathered by the policy and decision makers,” he adds.
The bill increases accountability and
transparency in government, reduces corruption and protects the
taxes paid by Filipino breadwinners. The Romulo bill will encourage
more honest officials like Rene Saguisag who, when he was a senator,
habitually returned unspent travel allowances to the Senate finance
office.
Unfunded laws
SEN. Pia Cayetano and Rep. Belma Cabilao of
Zamboanga Sibugay were shocked during a joint hearing on June 3 to
learn that Republic Act 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management
Act of 2000, had not been funded since 2001.
Emie Aguinaldo, head of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management
Bureau, spilled the bad news at the meeting of the Joint
Congressional Oversight Committee on the Ecological Solid Waste
Management Act Cayetano had authored in the Senate.
Because the law is unfunded, only 2,400 of the
44,000 barangays have waste segregation projects. Numerous provinces
continue to operate open dumpsites, including Bohol, Cebu and
Pangasinan, considered among the leading tourism capitals.
Who, please tell, is responsible for withholding
money from the solid-waste program? The DENR, the local governments
or the Congress, which appropriates money for RA 9003?
On May 14, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr.
told the Senate Committee on Budget and Management that at least 75
laws could not be enforced because they lacked funding, estimated at
P500 billion.
Andaya told the committee, chaired by Sen. Mar
Roxas, that legislators had introduced bills to accommodate interest
groups or to promote personal projects even if the measures were not
technically or financially viable.
The Manila Standard story reported that Sen.
Loren Legarda questioned Andaya, who was facing confirmation, on a
number of programs whose status were questionable.
Among them, the Philippine Dairy Corp., has
received “only a portion” of the P200 million appropriated by
law. The PDC is attached to the Department of Agriculture.
A budget department report said that of the P122
billion for the Agriculture Modernization Act of 1997, only P75
billion had been released.
The government owes war veterans and military
retirees P37.9 in disability pensions. The veterans have received
only P1.4 billion.
“Based on the report, the government has not
complied with P220 billion worth of funds for the laws enacted by
Congress as of September 2007,” the story said.
Roxas said he was not surprised that the amount
had reached P500 billion, noting it was only P200 billion when he
was a congressman.
What is Andaya’s advice?
Congress should not pass laws without a
companion statement on the funding source from the Department of
Finance. Else, passing the law is a waste of time.
Right. The US House of Representatives always
asks one or two questions when considering a program requiring huge
sums of money. Do we have the money for this program? Where will the
money come from?
Filipino congressmen and senators, on the other
hand, carelessly introduce bills that generally quote round numbers
and that do not identify funding sources. Their selfish goal is to
place on record, for cookie points, that they have introduced a bill
that helps the poor and that advances the general welfare. Note that
many bills contain the phrase: “Subject to the availability of
funds.” That’s like saying, pass the bill now and look for the
money later.
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