The Duterte administration has yet to release some P200 billion under the 2021 national budget which would have covered projects aimed at post-pandemic recovery, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto.
Recto said this bolstered the claim of Senator Panfilo Lacson that there was a “huge underspending” from the Bayanihan 2 funds.
“While it may be true that only P6 billion has not been released by the DBM [Department of Budget and Management], most of those released have not been obligated, have not been disbursed, so it cannot be used. That is just Bayanihan,” he said in an interview over ANC.
“What about the General Appropriations Act for 2021? There appears to be no sense of urgency. That’s roughly about P200 billion not yet released,” Recto said.
Lacson earlier lamented that Filipinos were hit by a double whammy as the aid due them covered by the Bayanihan 2 law did not materialize.
He said the P63 billion underspending covered some P46.397 billion undisbursed funds and P17.273 billion unobligated funds.
Recto also warned the country’s debt would balloon to P15 billion by the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in 2022.
He said the outstanding debt is already at P11 trillion and would probably hit P12.5 trillion by the end of 2021.