From the Website of GPH - Government of the Philippines
DBM: General Appropriations Act reforms break ground for transparency, accountability
From the Department of Budget and Management
GAA-as-Release-Document regime kicks off
Greater efficiency and improved transparency in budget implementation
and accountability in the expenditure process, and best of all, no more
fake special allotment release order (SARO) scams: This is the
Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) battle cry for 2014, as the
2014 General Appropriations Act (GAA) takes effect on the first working
day of the year, signaling a new regime—the first of its kind in the
country’s governance history—that establishes the General Appropriations
Act (GAA) as the government’s official budget release document.
Under the GAA-as-Release-Document budget regime, departments and
agencies will no longer need to secure SAROs to obligate funds—which
involves entering into contracts and kick-starting the procurement
process—for a particular project. Instead, an agency can begin
obligating funds as soon as the 2014 GAA is implemented on the very
first working day of the fiscal year.
“The 2014 GAA, as signed by President Benigno S. Aquino III last
December 20, already stands as the government’s primary budget release
document. This means that all the disaggregated budget items in the GAA
are already considered released to their respective agencies, with the
exception of lump-sum funds that have yet to be itemized, and which will
require prior approval before their release,” Secretary of Budget and
Management Florencio “Butch” Abad said.
“The GAA-as-Release-Document regime is a huge departure from the
longstanding practice of using SAROs and other release documents to move
funds towards projects under various departments and agencies. By
making the GAA as the release document for all budgetary items, we’ve
practically eliminated the delays that have plagued fund releases, since
agencies no longer have to secure SAROs and other release documents to
obligate their funds. Instead, they can begin obligating funds as early
as today: the first working day of the year, when the GAA officially
takes effect,” he added.
As clarified by the Budget chief, some budgetary items will still
require prior clearance and approval before the funds for these can be
released to their respective agencies. These include lump-sum funds
within an agency’s budget that have not been itemized prior to the
approval and enactment of the 2014 GAA, as well as Special Purpose
Funds, including Budgetary Support to Government Corporations.
Other budgetary items that will likewise need clearance prior to
release are those with conditions and requirements specified under the
2014 GAA’s General/Special Provisions and Budget Affirmation/Veto
Message in the GAA, and all automatically appropriated items, including
Special Accounts in the General Fund.
Besides ramping up the speed and efficiency of fund releases, the
GAA-as-Release-Document regime is expected to prevent or minimize
irregularities in the release of public funds to agencies, such as those
involving the circulation of fake SAROs.
“In 2013, we were made aware of a well-established and highly
coordinated racket that centered on the dissemination of fake SAROs. We
asked the National Bureau of Investigation to launch a probe into this,
the official results of which we’re still waiting for. Altogether,
however, it appears that unscrupulous individuals have taken advantage
of the necessity of release documents so that these parties were able to
profit from the distribution of fake SAROs.
“With the new GAA-as-Release-Document regime in place, however—and
the fact that SAROs are no longer needed for many of the fund releases
we’ll be making this year—we don’t just intend to accelerate releases so
that they can properly fund our key programs and projects. We also mean
to thwart those who’ve made the budget implementation process a hotbed
of graft and corruption. This is part of our deliberate, focused
campaign to facilitate greater transparency and accountability in the
expenditure process, so that every peso spent by government will indeed
benefit all Filipinos,” Abad said.
dbm.gov.ph
GPH Website
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