{"id":110096,"date":"2017-08-07T01:44:53","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T05:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=110096"},"modified":"2017-08-07T01:44:53","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T05:44:53","slug":"underspending-remains-a-major-flaw-in-budget-execution-diokno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/07\/underspending-remains-a-major-flaw-in-budget-execution-diokno\/","title":{"rendered":"Underspending remains a &#8216;major flaw&#8217; in budget execution &#8212; Diokno"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_110099\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-110099\" style=\"width: 240px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/BudgetAug7_1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-110099\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/BudgetAug7_1.jpg\" alt=\"Diokno said that although underspending has improved over the years, it is still happening. (PNA PHOTO)\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-110099\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diokno said that although underspending has improved over the years, it is still happening. (PNA PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>MANILA, Aug. 7<\/strong>\u2014 Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Monday described government underspending as a \u201cmajor flaw\u201d that is delaying several projects, particularly in infrastructure, from being completed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government is not implementing the budget fast enough, we need better budget reforms,\u201d Diokno told the Senate Committee on Finance during the first hearing on the proposed 2018 national budget of PH 3.767 trillion.<\/p>\n<p>This amount is 12.4 percent higher than the PHP3.35 trillion budget for 2017 and represents 21.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).<\/p>\n<p>Diokno said that although underspending has improved over the years, it is still happening.<\/p>\n<p>He said that in 2016, budget underspending reached PHP96.3 billion or 3.6 percent of the budget.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said that it is \u201cimperative\u201d that the country\u2019s legal framework on public financial management framework should be \u201crevised and updated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This way, she said it would ensure efficient budget execution, financial management and to limit Executive discretion in budget implementation.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, she said that it is also imperative that Congress ensures that existing policies on public financial management are fiscally responsible, transparent and involve people\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n<p>On July 24, President Rodrigo Duterte submitted to Congress the proposed 2018 national budget.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Budget and Management earlier said that the proposed budget prioritizes education and infrastructure development, particularly for the government\u2019s infrastructure program, \u201cBuild, Build, Build\u201d, and the provision of social services to the people.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MANILA, Aug. 7\u2014 Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Monday described government underspending as a \u201cmajor flaw\u201d that is delaying several &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":110099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[20108,20526,12065],"class_list":["post-110096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","tag-budget-secretary-benjamin-diokno","tag-gross-domestic-product-gdp","tag-senate-committee-on-finance","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}