Extension of 2018 budget to put 'Build, Build, Build’ in bad light

An opposition lawmaker says the extension of the 2018 national budget, which President Rodrigo Duterte recently approved, could be seen as a negative reflection of the administration's flagship "Build, Build, Build" program.

Akbayan Party-List Rep. Tom Villarin summarized the problem in two words: Absorptive capacity.

"Extending the 2018 budget for another year only shows the lack of absorptive capacity of implementing agencies in pursuit of the much ballyhooed ‘Build, Build, Build’ mantra," said the Davao City-based Villarin.

Absorptive capacity refers to the ability of a given agency to use up the funds it had been allocated, particularly in government projects.

Villarin hinted that this could hurt the government's ambitious five-year infrastructure modernization program, which carries a whopping price tag of P8 trillion.

"Such capacities were not put in place when the cashbased budget was introduced hence the discrepancy in actual implementation as to what was planned," said Villarin, a member of the Magnificent 7+ which are consistent critics of the administration.

President Duterte signed into law Joint Resolution (JR) No. 3, which extended the effectivity of the 2018 budget worth R3.767 trillion for one more year. The particular budget is obligationbased, which is traditional.

The new law effectively abandons the cash-budgeting system being pushed by the country's economic managers, most notably Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Ben Diokno.

"While DBM Secretary Diokno is adamant that a cashbased budget would still be in place for 2019, the reality is that an obligation-based budget is a deeply embedded practice that line agencies won't easily change," noted Villarin.