10/13/2009Gloria Arroyo still has seven months to her presidency. But even as she is supposed to exit by June 30, 2010, she and her administration continue to seek more and more funds which would still be under her full control and disposition.
At first, she claimed the calamity funds for this year have been depleted, with only P28 million left. But with the onslaught of two destructive typhoons, “Ondoy” and “Pepeng,” she has asked for a P10-billion calamity fund to augment this year’s calamity funds.
Now, she asks for additional rehabilitation funds to the tune of P50 billion, despite the fact that she has not even bothered to account for the P140 billion in budget savings that she has impounded, which funds, her Budget secretary had the temerity to state, are merely funds on paper.
How can impounded funds be termed as merely funds on paper? Were there savings or not? Were they impounded or not?
What is closer to the truth is that the funds were spent and not accounted for by Gloria and her Budget secretary, which is the reason neither the Finance department nor the central bank want to provide the Budget secretary a certification of the availability of funds.
Given the many proven instances of Gloria’s continued juggling of funds, and her refusal to account for these funds, along with her penchant for incurring more debts for the Filipino people to pay, decades on end, plus the fact that money is expected to come in from international donors, it is appalling that members of Congress are talking of trusting Gloria and her administration, despite their admission that there is that probability of the funds being misused by this administration.
Already, Gloria is being given a huge budget for next year, and this being an election year, it is almost certain that Gloria will again be misusing the budget funds, just as she did in 2004 and again in 2007.
It was stated by an administration ally in the Senate that there being no budget appropriation for capital outlay for 2010, on the assumption that all infrastructure projects should be finished by the end of the year, with new projects left to the new administration coming in by June 30, 2010, it is essential therefore to come up with an additional P47 billion, to be funded from borrowings, or savings, to pay for relief work and infrastructure development.
Sen. Edgardo Angara said that it is the one time that we have to begin trusting each other, even if the probability of these funds being misused by the government exists.
At the same time, government officials have to assure the public that they will not be giving the administration a blank check.
That’s asking too much from the Filipino people. For one, while government officials can publicly assure the Filipino people that they will not be giving the administration a blank check, that assurance is no assurance at all, considering the fact that not even funds that are declared by Congress as special funds that cannot be used for any other purpose, have been proved to have been used up for other purposes. The military modernization fund is one example. The other is Gloria’s proven juggling of funds and non-accountability.
What is to be stressed is the fact that even as Gloria has seven months to go in office, all the funds budgeted for 2010 — the entire budget plus the additional funds of close to P60 billion, will all be at the disposal of Gloria.
It is not unlikely that by the time Gloria steps out of Malacañang, the new administration with be left with coffers that are completely empty, leaving the new government bankrupt.
Giving Gloria so much in the budget plus additional funds, would be no different than appointing Dracula as the chief disburser of the blood bank.
Source: http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20091013com1.html
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