Duterte, Dominguez deny gov’t underspent Bayanihan funds
The Duterte administration has denied underspending funds intended to address the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left more than 27,000 people dead in the Philippines and dragged its economy into a recession.
During a meeting with key officials last Saturday, President Duterte asked Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III to react to the claim of Senators Panfilo Lacson and Vicente Sotto III that there was underspending in the Bayanihan funds. Bayanihan is a law that allocated funds for the government’s pandemic response.
Citing data from the budget department, Dominguez told Duterte that the government has already released P660 billion.
“What they are referring to as ‘underspending’ is P6 billion or one percent of the total,” the finance chief said.
“The Department of Budget (and Management) and ourselves are going to each
department to see where the P6 billion is. But Mr. President, this is one percent problem...
In relation to what we have released of P660 billion, this is one percent, okay, and we are sure that it will be released,” he added.
Dominguez said economic managers are asking each department “to really spend the money.”
Duterte then chided Congress for supposedly not listening to Dominguez when he was explaining how state funds are used.
“The problem is, you know, one thing very wrong with Congress is that they are not listening when you are talking. So it would be better to give it a little shout. That’s true. In Bisaya, it’s called tira-pasagad or shooting aimlessly. Tell them that one percent,” the President said.
“The criticism is always on the executive department, and we execute the laws. So when they say that you are not spending the money correctly because there is underspending, and it turns out it’s only one percent... I’d like to tell Congress now that when Secretary Dominguez is talking to you, please listen,” he added.
In a statement, the finance department said a total of P665.72 billion has been released to fund the government’s COVID-19 response and to mitigate the economic losses of low-income households, small businesses and other vulnerable sectors reeling from the pandemicrelated restrictions.
“Dominguez has always pointed out that President Duterte’s policy of fiscal discipline and prudence and the tax and economic reforms he has put in place since 2016 allowed the government to get its act together and prepare financially when the COVID-19 pandemic struck last year,” the department said.
Meanwhile, Dominguez said the government has set aside P45 billion in next year’s national budget for its vaccination efforts as he assured the public that there would be enough supply of COVID-19 jabs for the country’s adult population this year.
The amount, he added, can be used to fund both additional pandemic vaccines or booster shots, depending on the recommendation of the health department.
“We had a meeting with (Budget) Secretary (Wendel) Avisado and (Health) Secretary (Francisco) Duque (last Friday) and we noted that we have in the budget for next year already 45 billion pesos for additional vaccinations,” Dominguez said during a meeting of the government’s pandemic task force last Saturday.
“Just to assure you... Mr. President, and the health community, we do have the money for that. Now the question is: how do we use that money? Are we going to need booster shots? Are we going to need another set of vaccinations? Whatever it is, please tell us so that we can properly allocate these funds,” he added.