MANILA - Several congressmen on Tuesday expressed concern over the possible abuse of Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA) in the proposed 2023 spending program.

They said UAs may hide items from Congressional and public scrutiny

ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro said one example is the Support for Infrastructure Projects and Social Programs (SIPSP), which was increased ten times to P149.7 billion in 2023 from this year's P13.19 billion, .

"Insiders are saying that SIPSP programs will be funded through clinched loans after the General Appropriations Act (GAA) is passed so that it could not be scrutinized by Congress, and it is said that this has been the usual practice for years," Castro said.

She said the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr needs to explain why SIPSP increased by "more than 1,000 percent, from the current year's P13.19 billion".

"We are interested why the Marcos administration proposed such an increase and considering that it also proposed huge cuts and measly increases in vital items for education, health, and other basic social services," Castro added.

She said another UA under the 2023 National Expenditure Program is “support to foreign assisted projects" with a proposed budget of P380.6 billion.

"As it is, as House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto pointed out it seems that the primary purpose in placing items under the UA is to hide them from Congress examination and the funds for them are already prepared," the Deputy Minority leader said.

Castro cited that in 2020, when revenue collections were down because of the pandemic, all of the P122 billion in unprogrammed appropriations were still released.

"This practice of placing items in the Unprogrammed Appropriations or even at the Automatic Appropriations to hide their details from Congress and public scrutiny is an insult to the House of Representatives and its power of the purse as well as the Filipino people," Castro said.

She said all items concerning the national budget should be examined carefully by Congress.

Former Appropriations Committee Chair, now Deputy Speaker Isidro Ungab has asked the Department of Budget and Management to explain the proposed P588.1 billion in unprogrammed appropriations for 2023.

Ungab said UAs, which covers 16 percent of the total programmed new appropriations in the 2023 proposed budget, is higher than the previous years.

He said the standard level authorized for UAs shall not exceed 2 percent of the total proposed expenditures in the programmed component of the General Appropriations Act.

“I believe clarifications on these UAs must be made, considering its impact on the fiscal discipline or fiscal program of the national government, since the Unprogrammed Appropriations are also considered revenue-based expenditure. Thus, it would be best if we will able to include these UAs in the budget, with sufficient guidelines and proper limitations, ” Ungab said.

The executive branch has already submitted to Congress the proposed P5.268 trillion national budget for 2023 for approval.

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