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‘2013 budget for electioneering, PPPs’

Saturday, August 4, 2012

‘2013 budget for electioneering, PPPs’


“The budget continues to prop up defective policies imposed by foreign creditors such as privatization while allocating huge resources for CCT dole-outs to conceal the harsh social impact of such programs and automatically setting aside a significant portion for debt servicing.” – Bayan
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – As the House of Representatives began deliberating on the proposed P2-trillion ($47.74 billion) national budget for 2013, groups expressed fear that the proposed budget will be “exploited for electioneering and will not provide free social services for the Filipino people.”

The proposed budget next year is 10.5 percent higher than this year’s P1.816 trillion ($43.35 billion).
In a statement, multisectoral group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said the huge absolute increases in the budget of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) of P21 billion ($501.31 million) and P26.5 billion ($632.69 million), as well as the P4.8-billion ($11.4 million) hike in the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program’s budget, “are meant to buy patronage from local politicians and voters to boost the electoral bid of Liberal Party candidates.

“If the proposed budget is empowering anyone, it would be the Liberal Party (LP) of the administration, which is seeking to clinch more local and senatorial posts in next year’s midterm polls,” Bayan said.

Bayan noted that this could be the motivation behind the rush by the LP-led appropriations committee at the House of Representatives and the Senate to finish the whole budget approval process by December.

Despite the anomalies in the CCT program of the Aquino administration, the budget for CCT or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) will be increased by 12.4 percent from this year’s P39.4 billion ($942.58 million). The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) hopes to target 3.8 million households for next year.

In a report, the Commission on Audit (CoA) cited several anomalies in the 4Ps, including double entries of beneficiaries and unliquidated P6.6 billion ($157.89 million) fund transfers.

Moreover, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) also feared that that the P1-billion ($23.92 million) quick response allocation in the proposed budget for the Department of Agriculture (DAR) could be “used as a seed fund for the election of Aquino’s allies.”.... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/08/02/%e2%80%982013-budget-for-electioneering-ppps%e2%80%99/

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