Lacson: Discretionary funds still in 2015 budget

 (Photo by Benhur Arcayan/Malacañang Photo Bureau)

MANILA — Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson revealed that lump-sum or discretionary funds can still be found in the 2015 national budget.

Lacson said that his team found out that the corruption-prone lump-sum appropriations is at P424 billion and could still go up.

“We have already discovered a total of P424 billion worth of lump-sum appropriations, a.

k.a. discretionary funds, parked in the budget of just 11 of the 21 major line agencies of the national government. Hold your breath. It is still counting,” Lacson said.

The senator was speaking before the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants at the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati City.

Lacson’s group found the following lump-sums on various departments:

— Department of Social Welfare and Development, P102.6 billion;

— Department of Education, P80.7 billion;

— Department of Interior and Local Government, P80.7 billion;

— Department of Health, P75.4 billion;

— Department of National Defense, P66.4 billion;

— Department of Agriculture, P29.9 billion;

— Department of Public Works and Highways, P11.4 billion;

— Department of Transportation and Communications, P11.4 billion;

— National Irrigation Authority, P13 billion;

— Philippine National Police, P6.7 billion;

— Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P6.1 billion

“As professional accountants serving the interest of the public, I may speak on your behalf when I frown upon discretionary funds as these are prone to misuse and corruption,” he added.

The Supreme Court earlier declared the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as unconstitutional amid nationwide protests.

Parts of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), or the funds from savings of agencies used to provide budget for projects outside the approved national budget, were also declared unconstitutional by the SC.

“After the PDAF, we also discovered the obvious reincarnation of the SC unconstitutionality declared Budget Circular No. 541, which earlier gave the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) the authority to pool and declare as savings unobligated, unutilized and unreleased appropriations, not at the end of the fiscal year but the second quarter,” he said.

“We found it in Section 70 and Section 73 of the General Provision of the 2015 GAA. Are we now looking at the rebirth of the DAP?

” Lacson wondered.