Palace Assures Proper Spending of Public Funds

(PNA) — Malacanang on Tuesday assured that the administration of President Benigno Aquino III continued to exercise diligent and careful spending of public funds under ‘Tuwid na Daan’ (straight path) governance.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. made the assurance in response to claims by former Senator Panfilo Lacson the 2015 budget contains at least Php424 billion in lump sum and a new version of the partially unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

”One of the important reforms implemented by President Aquino was the honest and proper use of public funds. It is based on the timely passage of national budget since 2011,” Coloma said in a press briefing in Malacanang.

Coloma said the budget spending by all government agencies can be found in the website of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

”They (DBM) have list of status of allotment releases and status of disbursement as well as report on utilization on cash allocation,” Coloma said.

He also said every government agency submits monthly and quarterly reports to the DBM.

”These reports are being used by the DBM as basis for the releases of budget the following month,” Coloma explained.

Coloma said the Commission on Audit (COA) has also been scrutinizing properly all transactions concerning the use of the public funds.

The DBM has belied the ‘doomsday assertions’ by Lacson, calling it “inaccurate.”

“We must not mislead the public by implying that lump sums in the budget are tantamount to fund irregularity. It’s true that most budget items ought to be disaggregated, exactly as we have done,” the DBM said in a press statement. (PNA) RMA/JFM