The House of Representatives will conduct a thorough performance audit of every executive department before it can approve their budget under the proposed P1.415 trillion 2009 national appropriation submitted by Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya on Wednesday.

In a press statement, Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. said the review is aimed at finding out if each department has “adequately complied” with its work programs and how it used its appropriations under the 2008 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Even the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will not   get a budget cut as long as it has performed satisfactorily and used its 2008 outlay based on its work programs, according to Nograles, who is now engaged in a word war with Commissioner Ernesto Suansing of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), an agency directly under DOTC.

“If in case we determine during the course of our audit that a department did not perform as expected, the House will either recommend a budget cut or demand a policy change to ensure adequate compliance on the executive’s work programs next year,” he said.

But he stressed that the review will not cause the delay in the passage of the proposed 2009 GAA on time to avoid a reenacted budget next year.

Nograles also expressed support for the proposed Joint Resolution on Salary Standardization Law III, pointing out that the move will not only enable government workers to keep up with the rising cost of basic commodities and service but also rationalize the compensation system in government service.

Noting that the proposal will increase the budget on personnel services by 12.4 percent (P47.6 billion), he called for an assessment of the Executive Order No. 366 which calls for a review of the operations and organizations of the Executive branch and provide options and incentives for government employees.

He said the Arroyo administration is not only seeking another raise in the take-home pay of government employees but also wants to revise the compensation and position classification in the bureaucracy.

“We should evaluate the extent of the implementation of EO 366 because this may be in conflict with the proposed SSL III as the increase in personnel spending represents a sizeable portion of 30.5 percent in the proposed 2009 budget,” he said.

With the proposed increase of 63.5 percent or P27.3 billion in next year’s budget for the agriculture and agrarian sectors, Nograles  hoped that the move will boost the country’s food production capability through increased subsidy in farm inputs.

He also lauded the proposed 12.4 percent increase (P209.8 billion) in the allocation for the education sector which, he said, will help arrest the declining quality of education in the country and, at the same time, address the shortage of classrooms, teachers and other educational facilities.

Source: People's Taliba by Raul Beltran, August 29, 2008