Transparency sought on use of P72-B funds
FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd on Tuesday said the utilization of a proposed P72 billion in development funds for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BAR), to be created under the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), must be “transparent.”
Dominguez made the remark during a BBL public hearing, which focused on fiscal autonomy and budget policy provisions in the BBL, which is aimed to create the BAR to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, chairman of the Senate sub-committee on the BBL, has decided to adjourn the public hearing on the BBL after getting “substantial” feedback from concerned sectors to be affected by the BBL.
Dominguez said any proposed funding scheme for the BAR, such as the P72- billion block grant, “should be programmatic, transparent, performance-based and phased.”
The yearly block grant would come from the net internal revenue collections of Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs.
It aims to help propel the economy of the BAR.
“The implementation of plans and programs must be clear and reliable to ensure effective utilization of funds. These are the criteria of modern governance. Ensuring them will help in winning broader public support for the proposed autonomy arrangement,” Dominguez said.
“The fundamental requirements for sustained growth such as hard infrastructure, new communications technologies and efficient administrative systems apply to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region as much as it does to the rest of the republic,” he added.
The Finance secretary said, “Fiscal autonomy is earned. It should be attained with the end goal of eco - able development. The provisions of the proposed law must ensure that in order to win public support.”
He raised the need to monitor how the Bangsamoro leaders would spend the block grant. “We want to help them become successful and the way to make it successful is to be with them.”
“Monitoring this project, designing a project, monitoring it, imple saying they can’t do it but we should help them,” Dominguez said in an interview after the hearing.
Zubiri said his committee is still “on track” to pass the BBL before March 22, or before Congress adjourns for a month-long break.
“We adjourned the sub-committee hearings on the BBL before Valentine’s Day [February 14]. So, it’s a Valentine’s gift for the Bangsamoro people and we are still on track to
Zubiri said he agrees with Dominguez’s proposal to include monitoring mechanisms in the BBL for the use of the block grant, adding that under the BBL the spending of the block grant would be reviewed
“So, the monitoring provision of in the BBL because we also don’t like the fund to be used solely for personal services or be used for salaries,” he said in an interview.
“We have to make sure that education is prioritized, health is prioritized. We want to make sure that basic services are delivered to the people utilizing the block grant that we will give to them,” according to Zubiri.
He said the granting of the block grant would not be a “one-time” release. “It’s like the IRA [Internal Revenue Allotment]. It’s a one-time appropriation.”
“Let me get this straight, the block grant is not unique to the regions. For example, Region 10 is getting P83 billion, Region 9 is getting P77 billion, Region 11 is receiving P78 billion on their grants or development funds for the region,” Zubiri added.
He said the ARMM merely receives P33 billion block grant. “So, the ARMM is really pitiful.”
The senator added that the P72billion block grant for the BAR “only guarantees that they are at par with other regions in terms of development funds.”