P3.3 T in agency budget released

A total of P3.3 trillion has been released to state agencies to implement priority programs and address the problem of underspending, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

In a Viber message, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the DBM has already released 94.9 percent or P3.335 trillion of the total P3.516-trillion allocation for state agencies since the onset of the year to allow early implementation of projects.

This is an improvement from the 81.2 percent or about P2.565 trillion released at the start of 2023.

“There are more comprehensive releases this 2024 because last year, there were many offices that were still organizing their BAC (Bids and Awards Committee) given that there were new sets of officials,” Pangandaman told

The STAR.

“This will help address underspending as agencies can start their early procurement activities,” she said.

Government agencies recorded low budget utilization during the middle of 2023, which impacted growth, prompting the economic team to order them to come up with catch up spending plans.

Releasing the budget for the majority of items listed in the General Appropriations Act would allow agencies to bid out projects and procure and prepare for other programs.

Pangandaman has been pushing state agencies to spend their respective budgets under the record P5.768 trillion.

“We are steadfast in our commitment of helping line departments execute their respective programs and projects and thereby raise the quality of public service delivery,” Pangandaman said.

“Another also is to improve on cash programming since many of these are just timing issues since bulk of the spending is relegated to the last month of the year, which is the case for last December,” she said.

In terms of cash allocations, the Budget chief noted that DBM would be looking at the quarter performance more than the monthly operations since cash allocations are valid for the whole quarter, giving line agencies the flexibility to utilize them.

NCAs are disbursement orders by the DBM to government banks servicing the release of funds to agencies. State agencies are expected to use the NCAs to pay for the cash requirements of their programs and projects.

“It would also depend on how fast can contractors submit billings and comply with documentary requirements, and consequently how the line agencies process these,” Pangandaman said.

The DBM is likewise working with integrated public financial management system to digitize these kinds of processes and help improve spending efficiency.