Recto pushes cut in non-essential gov’t expenditures

Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto intends to cut the budget for certain utilities and non-essential expenditures of the national government and divert these to more vital sectors such as education, health and social services.

He said the operating overhead of state offices form part of the P1.21-trillion maintenance and other operating expenses of the proposed P3.35- trillion national budget for 2017.

“The budget peso can still be stretched by converting office overhead into medicine, school lunches and other things poor people and communities need,” he said.

Recto cited the P13.8-billion outlay for water, lighting and electricity, which could withstand a 10-percent reduction “without curtailing service and efficiency.”

A reduction of P1.38 billion from this particular expense would be able to finance the construction of 1,300 new classrooms, he added.

Recto said traveling expenses, which carry a proposed budget of P17.7 billion, could be reduced by as much as 10 percent.

Expenses for training and scholarships also eat up a significant portion of the 2017 national budget at P30.6 billion, he added.

Recto said scholarships could be retained, but that funding for training should be reduced, especially when these would most likely be used for “taxpayer- funded training in resorts and hotels.”

“So when an agency is under pressure to improve its fund absorption capacity, training provides the convenient fast track. But training need not be in hotels. It can be in-house or in state colleges that offer HRM courses, which means they have the manpower and facilities,” he said.

Recto said the P9.6-billion allocation in the 2017 budget for communications – cellphone, landline, internet and postage expenses – should be reduced.

“Slash it by P1 billion, and this will be a big addition to the P7-billion medicine budget of the health department for 2017,” he said.

Recto said the P26.5 billion for consultants and outsourced jobs, booked under “professional services,” can also be subjected to downsizing “in a manner that will not cause the termination of contracts of good, skilled and technical people.”

Another item that should be slashed is the P84.1 billion for supplies and materials, particularly the allocations for the purchase of gas, oil and lubricants amounting to at least P6 billion, he added.

Recto said the allocation for the purchase of textbooks and medicine would not be touched.

The P11.7 billion in “representation expenses” granted to upper-echelon government officials should be reduced too, he added.

Recto said this can be done outright by approving a lower amount for selected MOOE items.

“But the best way is through a budget provision stating that release of 10 percent of the allocation be placed on hold, or in the least-priority, last-to-release items,” he said.