DBM bares top spenders in government for first half of 2024 | ABS-CBN

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DBM bares top spenders in government for first half of 2024

DBM bares top spenders in government for first half of 2024

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

 | 

Updated Aug 20, 2024 06:08 PM PHT

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Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman attends the Committee on Finance Subcommittee A deliberation on the proposed P1.8 billion 2023 budget of the Department of Budget and Management on October 6, 2022. Voltaire F. Domingo Senate PRIB handout/File

MANILA (UPDATED) — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Tuesday bared the top spenders of the 2024 budget as of June 30, 2024 during the the Senate Finance Committee's deliberations on the proposed 2025 national budget.

The top 10 agencies with the highest obligation rates are the following:

• Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity

•  National Intelligence Coordinating Agency

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•  Department of Public Works and Highways

•  Department of Finance

•  Department of Foreign Affairs

•  Department of the Interior and Local Government 

•  Commission on Elections

•  Department of National Defense 

•  Department of Transportation

•  Department of Agriculture

Meanwhile, the bottom 10 agencies with the lowest utilization rates, ranked from the highest to lowest spenders, are:

•  Department of Justice

•  Office of the Vice President

•  Department of Labor and Employment 

•  Office of the President

•  Philippine Sports Commission

•  Department of Energy 

•  Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development 

•  Department of Migrant Workers

•  Commission on Higher Education 

•  Congress of the Philippines


This means the Congress of the Philippines is the lowest spender.

DBM Undersecretary Goddes Hope Oliveros Libiran, in a letter dated August 20 to ABS-CBN News, explained that Congress have yet to submit their quarterly Statement of Appropriation, Allotment, Obligation, Disbursement and Balances (SAAODB) as part of their Budget and Financial Accountability Reports (BFAR). 

"Thus, the obligation rate of the Congress of the Philippines should not be compared with other agencies that have completed submission of their BFAR. Similarly, the Career Executive Service Board (CESB), under the Civil Service Commission, is also expected to complete its report submissions. Meanwhile, we also note that the National Council for Children's Television (NCCT), an attached agency of the Department of Education, and the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT-OSEC) have partial submissions to DBM due to the non-submission of Continuing Appropriations Report and the 2nd quarter Disbursement Report, respectively," Libiran said.

In her speech, DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman explained why it is important to track the spending patterns of agencies.

"Budget utilization is always a major consideration and we note that as of June 30, 2024, 65.4 percent of the P5.652 trillion allotment from FY 2024 National Budget and FY 2023 continuing appropriations has been obligated. Out of the P5.6 trillion allotment, some P4.1 trillion has been released to national government agencies to implement their programs and projects, 53.8 percent of which has been obligated," Pangandaman explained.

"High budget utilization rate reflects the agency's absorptive capacity to utilize additional funds," she added.

Pangandaman said they have asked those lagging behind to catch up.

"Meanwhile a low budget utilization rate reflects the agency's limited capacity to spend more funds, hence just last month, we issued circular letter 2024-12 requiring agencies with low obligation rates to submit their respective catch-up plans to improve the delivery of public goods and services," Pangandaman also said.

The DBM chief likewise bared that for the 2025 budget, the DBM received budget proposals totaling to P9.2 trillion.

"However, given our limited fiscal space and with our fiscal program in mind as we try to decrease our deficit and at the same time maximize whatever revenues we raise, we have the set budget ceiling at P6.352 trillion as approved by the DBCC," Pangandaman said.

Pangandaman also explained that a huge chunk of the budget for next year will be regionalized.

"Of the proposed 2025 fiscal year 2025 budget, P4.057 trillion or 63.9 percent will be directly allocated to the regions. Of this amount, NCR will be allocated with P857.9 billion, Luzon with P1.538 trillion, Visayas with P721 billion, and Mindanao with P940.3 billion," Pangandaman said.

"The remaining 36.1 percent or P2.295 trillion pertains to the non-regionalized budget. This is composed of the nationwide and central office allocations amounting to P1.725 trillion and P570.3 billion respectively."

The top 10 departments and agencies with the largest allocation in the expenditure program are the following:

• Education (Department of Education, State Universities and Colleges, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) - P977.6 billion

•  Public Works - P900 billion

•  Health - P297.6 billion

•  Interior and Local Government - P278.4 billion

• Defense - P256.1 billion

• Social Welfare - P230.1 billion

•  Agriculture - P211.3 billion

•  Transportation - P180.9 billion

•  Judiciary - P63.6 billion

•  Justice - P40.6 billion


Editor's Note: The story has been updated to properly show the list of the bottom 10 agencies with the lowest utilization rates, ranked from the highest to lowest spenders. The list will show the Congress of the Philippines is the lowest spender.

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Trump fires top-ranked US military officer as shake-ups spread

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President Donald Trump fired top US military officer General Charles "CQ" Brown on Friday, part of a major shake-up of the armed forces' leadership.

Trump offered no explanation for Brown's dismissal less than two years into his four-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which followed sweeping layoffs of federal workers and moves to dismantle government institutions just a month into the president's second term.

Brown had been nominated to the top military role by Democratic president Joe Biden and became only the second Black person to hold the position.

Following Trump's announcement on Brown, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was seeking a replacement for Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as the top US Navy officer.

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Trump thanked Brown for "his over 40 years of service to our country" in a post on his Truth Social platform, describing him as "a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader."

Brown has commanded a fighter squadron and two fighter wings, as well as US air forces under the Central Command and Indo-Pacific Command. He had served as Joint Chiefs chairman since October 2023.

Following the 2020 murder of a Black man, George Floyd, by a white police officer in Minnesota, Brown -- an experienced fighter pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours, 130 of them in combat -- recorded an emotional video about his personal experiences, including with discrimination in the US military.

"I'm thinking about my Air Force career, where I was often the only African American in my squadron or as a senior officer, the only African American in the room," Brown said.

"I'm thinking about the pressure I felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors I perceive had expected less from me as an African American."

- Top Navy officer being replaced -

Hegseth had advocated for Brown's firing in a November podcast appearance, saying any top officers "involved in any of the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) woke shit has got to go," but told journalists last month that he was "looking forward to working" with the general.

Trump said he was nominating Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Caine to replace Brown.

He said Caine -- whom he recently described meeting in Iraq during his first term -- is "an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a 'warfighter' with significant interagency and special operations experience."

Caine served in positions including associate director for military affairs at the CIA, as well as in various operational and staff roles, including more than 150 hours in combat as an F-16 pilot, an aircraft in which he logged more than 2,800 hours.

Trump, in his trademark showman style, told a Saudi investor forum in Miami on Wednesday about meeting Caine in Iraq, where he was among a group of "handsome people, everybody's like from a movie set."

According to Trump, Caine told the president that he went by the nickname "Razin."

"I said, wait a minute, your name is Razin Caine? I love you, I've been looking for you for five years ... this is what I want," Trump recounted.

In another major Pentagon shakeup, Hegseth said he was seeking a replacement for Franchetti, the first woman to serve as chief of naval operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"I am... requesting nominations for the positions of chief of naval operations and Air Force vice chief of staff," Hegseth said in a statement.

"The incumbents in these important roles, Admiral Lisa Franchetti and General James Slife, respectively, have had distinguished careers. We thank them for their service and dedication to our country," he said, without providing an explanation for their departures.

Franchetti had previously served on a series of surface vessels, commanding a guided missile destroyer, a destroyer squadron and two carrier strike groups.

She was deputy commander of US naval forces in Europe and as well as in Africa, and deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development. She became vice chief of naval operations -- the service's number two position -- in September 2022, and took over the Navy's top job in November 2023.

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