In a bid to speed up the delivery of public services, Malacañang has ordered the adoption of a cash budgeting system which requires funds and projects to be spent and executed within the same fiscal year.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, on behalf of President Rodrigo Duterte, signed Executive Order 91 on Sept. 9 that orders the government shift to a cash budgeting system.
Under the previous system, contracts awarded within the fiscal year can be delivered even after the year ends.
The new EO also states that payments for obligations incurred should be made three months after the end of the validity of appropriations.
Unreleased appropriations and unspent funds should be reverted to the national treasury three months after each fiscal year, according to the order.
Appropriations covering financial subsidy to local government units will be available for obligation and release until the end of the succeeding fiscal year.
Meanwhile, appropriations for the statutory shares of local governments shall be available for obligation and disbursement until fully expended.
All funds transferred between or among government agencies and LGUs shall not be considered disbursed until the transferred amounts have been actually used to pay for goods delivered and services inspected and accepted.
“There is a need to improve the fiscal planning of government agencies through the implementation of an operational cash budget and by setting deadlines for obligation of funds and execution of projects during the fiscal year, in order to speed up the implementation of programs and to promptly deliver goods and services to our people,” the EO read.
In related developments:
• ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro hit the P12.4-billion budget cuts for the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education, saying the slash would cripple state universities and college and technical vocational institutions in the implementation of the law.
• Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the P1.698-billion budget of the Presidential Communications Operations Office for 2020 will boost the quality of its information dissemination services. “We will improve the quality of our reporting in PTV, also in Radyo Pilipinas, as well as in the Philippine News Agency—including the News and Information Bureau, Bureau of Communications Services, and other branches of the PCOO,” Andanar said in a mix of Filipino and English.
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