By Lilybeth G. Ison
MANILA, July 4 (PNA) — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Friday clarified that only P136.75 billion was made at the disposal of the Executive branch through the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) used to fund priority infrastructure projects and not P352.7 billion as earlier reported.
DBM records as of Dec. 31, 2013 show that only a total of P136.75 billion — P65.59 billion under the 2011 National Budget (R.A. 10147) and P71.16 billion under the 2012 National Budget (R.A. 10155) — was made available to fund “high-impact priority projects” under the DAP for the mentioned years.
It noted that the amount actually used from the total amount was only P114.58 billion.
The DBM also corrected the reported P133 billion-worth of overall savings allotted for DAP for 2011 to 2012.
It said its records reflect overall savings of only P119.11 billion comprised of P52.35 billion and P66.76 billion for the 2011 and 2012 budgets, respectively.
Of this amount, DBM said, it must be noted that only a total of P19.69 billion was pooled through National Budget Circular No. 541 which only pertains to unobligated allotments withdrawn from different National Government Agencies.
The DBM also clarified that the reported P219.73 billion generated from unprogrammed funds for the two years (2011-2012) was just a projection.
Only P17.64 billion was actually released for DAP-funded projects, based on records of the DBM.
“The inaccuracy in the reported figure for the unprogrammed funds may be a misinterpretation of what was presented in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) as projections versus what was available and what was actually used,” it noted.
Earlier reports stated that the budget department has placed an estimated P133 billion in overall savings and another P219.73 billion in unprogrammed funds at the disposal of the executive branch in just two years.
For the record, the DBM said, “windfall revenues for 2011 and 2012 only amounted to P18.3 billion and P13.92 billion, respectively, for a total of P32.22 billion. That was the total available fund, not P219.73 billion which was the projection in the 2011 and 2012 GAAs.”
Of the P32.22 billion, it said only P17.64 billion of unprogrammed funds were released and utilized for DAP-funded projects. (PNA)