THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has topped all government agencies that have so far been unable to fully utilize its budget, the budget department said yesterday.
Budget secretary Amenah Pangandaman said as of June 30 this year, the following departments have low obligation rates.
* DICT – 9.2 percent
* Commission on Elections – 26.1 percent
* Department of Agrarian Reform – 28.9 percent
* Department of Social Welfare and Development – 34.2 percent
* Department of Energy – 34.3 percent
“Ibig sabihin nabigay mo na ‘yung allotment nila, kumbaga ‘yung SARO [Special Allotment Release Order] kasi kapag mayroon ka na nun, pwede ka na mag-bid,” she said.
She added: “Malaking portion ng pondo na ‘yun ay hindi pa nao-obligate. Meaning, hindi mo pa nabe-beat,” she added.
If this continues, the budget chief said their future budget proposals might be affected.
“During our meeting last week with the President, nandoon ‘yung agencies na medyo hindi makahabol and all of them naman committed to the President they would fast-track the implementation of the projects,” she said.
Pangandaman said no agency has yet to achieve 100 percent obligation rate for this year, “if we look at it, on average for all the agencies, it is 32 percent and obligation rate.”
For his part, PS-DBM executive director Dennis Santiago said the proposed amendments to the procurement law could make positive changes through a faster and shorter procurement process, adding this has delayed some projects.
“Matagal ma-deliver ang services, so with the proposed revision, we would make it more efficient. For example, the concept of direct acquisition,” said Santiago.
Despite this, agencies should still follow technical and financial parameters so procurement processes would not be abused, even in the part of the supplier.
Underspending is supposedly among the reasons for the slow economic growth, said Pangandaman.
The country’s gross domestic product grew 4.3 percent in the second quarter from 6.4 percent in the first three months of the year. The slower growth was due to smaller expansion in household consumption and lower government spending, among others, analysts have said. (ABS-CBN News)
