Evasco scores low utilization of gov’t funds

Portrait of Leoncio Evasco, Jr., Cabinet Secretary to Rodrigo Duterte, addressing employees of the Malacañang Palace. (Photo By Ace Morandante (Presidential Communications Operations Office, Office of the President) – Google+ profile of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (original here), Public Domain)

DAVAO CITY – Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr on Friday urged officials of the 12 agencies under the Office of the Cabinet Secretary to step up and reach out to the people especially in rural areas.

“Get out of your shell and reach out to people. Listen to them what they need,” Evasco said in a press conference for the formal launch of Biyaya ng Pagbabago in Davao City slated December 9 at the Freedom Park here.

Evasco bared that the 12 agencies have a utilization rate of 60 percent at the end of the fiscal year.

He said 40 percent of their budget for programs and projects were not spent.

The low utilization of budget is attributed to fear of releasing money following the controversial Napoles fund scam and stricter rules of the Commission on Audit (COA). Or, Evasco said, money goes to the pockets of corrupt officials.

According to Evasco, the low utilization of funds takes a toll on the lives of the people.

“This is the reason we are linking back to the people through the Kilusang Pagababago (KP),” he said.

KP is a mass convergence of people and organizations from the grassroots, Indigenous Peoples and the Urban Poor. KP is more known as a support group of President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs, criminality, corruption, and poverty.

Evasco wants to see an increase of the fund utilization by implementing the programs and projects aimed at bringing poverty down to 14 percent from 26 percent of the population at the end of the administration of President Duterte.

Evasco emphasized the participation of the people with the partnership of KP in accessing the programs of the Duterte administration.

KP will also help in reporting the performance of the agencies.
Evasco would like to see how fund utilization translates into alleviating poverty.

With the presence of Project Performance Monitoring Office, Evasco is optimistic the money infused for anti-poverty programs of the 12 agencies are utilized and programs and project delivered to the ground.

The 12 agencies under Evasco’s office that will participate in Saturday’s Biyaya ng Pagababago are the Philippine Coconut Authority , Cooperative Development Authority, TESDA, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, National Anti-Poverty Commission, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, National Food Authority, National Youth Commission, Office of the President – Presidential Action Center, Philippine Commission on Women and the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor.

Evasco explained that Biyaya ng Pagbabago is a mechanism that will result in better services of all government agencies to improve quality of life of the Filipinos, contribute to the upliftment of six million poor and marginalized people at the minimum out of poverty towards a comfortable life, and empowered, organized and movement for change.

The Biyaya ng Pagbabago kicked off on December 1 in Ifugao, Mountain Province with the Office of the Participatory Governance, Strategic Action and Response (STAR) as lead agencies.

Participatory Governance Undersecretary Joselito Libres earlier said Biyaya, which means gift, is part of the vision of the Duterte administration for greater people participation for economic inclusivity and foster participation in governance.

It involves a multi-sectoral and multi-agency service. It brings programs to the grassroots so that people know how to access them, claim the benefits of government programs especially livelihood.

“If people know how to access the different programs of the government especially those in the rural communities, they will be liberated from poverty,” Libres said.

“The President is persistent in addressing the issue of poverty,” he added. The Biyaya ng Pagbabago partners with Kilusang Pagbabago (KP) in delivering the government programs.

Alexander “Rocky” Balili, lead convenor of KP, had said that a nation is mature if people are more educated and successful if people are active in claiming government programs.