{"id":238146,"date":"2019-11-22T21:43:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-23T02:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=238146"},"modified":"2019-11-22T21:43:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T02:43:16","slug":"dotrs-disbursement-up-projects-threatened-by-budget-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/11\/22\/dotrs-disbursement-up-projects-threatened-by-budget-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"DOTr\u2019s disbursement up, projects threatened by budget cut"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In a television interview over ANC, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said the department\u2019s disbursement rate has reached 44 percent as of October 2019, as compared to 27.73 percent in 2015, 41.58 percent in 2016, 32.55 percent in 2017, and 39.98 percent in 2018 –an increase of over 16 percent in the last five years. (File Photo<\/a>: Department of Transportation – Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Wednesday reported an increase in its disbursement rate in 2019, and warned that slashing its next year\u2019s budget by PHP60 billion would put its projects in jeopardy for the next two and a half years.<\/p>\n

In a television interview over ANC, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said the department\u2019s disbursement rate has reached 44 percent as of October 2019, as compared to 27.73 percent in 2015, 41.58 percent in 2016, 32.55 percent in 2017, and 39.98 percent in 2018 –an increase of over 16 percent in the last five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an obligated amount of more than 80 percent. Of this 80 percent, 44 percent have actually been disbursed for 2019,\u201d Tugade said.<\/p>\n

Disbursement is defined by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) as the actual withdrawal of cash from the Bureau of Treasury due to encashment of checks issued by government agencies, compared to obligation which is defined as liabilities legally incurred and yet to be paid by the government.<\/p>\n

Following calls by some lawmakers to slash the DOTr\u2019s budget by PHP60 billion due to low a disbursement rate, Tugade said such a move was not a \u201cvery accurate approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause, as I have explained,\u00a0isama mo naman ‘yung mga<\/em>\u00a0virtual\u00a0na natapos na yung mga proyekto<\/em>\u00a0(you should include those virtually disbursed, or projects that have already been completed),\u201d Tugade said.<\/p>\n

Disbursement, he said, does not reflect the actual accomplishments of the department since it excludes situations where projects have been completed but have yet to be paid in full.<\/p>\n

\u201cTapos na ‘yung<\/em>\u00a0Panglao airport,\u00a0ginagamit na ‘yung\u00a0<\/em>airport,\u00a0pero hindi pa ho bayad ng kabuuan. Bakit? Kasi ho para bayaran, meron ho mga\u00a0<\/em>progress billings\u00a0at meron mga vina-<\/em>validate\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0number (The Panglao airport is already completed, it is already operational but it is not yet paid in full. Why? Because there are progress billings and there are numbers to be validated before this will be paid),\u201d Tugade said.<\/p>\n

When asked why some completed projects are yet to be fully disbursed or paid, Tugade said the process of disbursement depended on billings submitted by project contractors which were subject to further review.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you actually disburse, there actually has to be billing submitted. And you just don’t accept the billings hook, line, and sinker. You have to review this,\u00a0rerepasuhin mo<\/em>\u00a0(verify it),\u201d Tugade said.<\/p>\n

Tugade further said reducing the DOTr\u2019s budget for any reason would simply endanger its projects for the remaining years of the Duterte administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can we operate on projects which we have forecasted and there is no budget?,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s recent call to expedite prerequisites of project construction through the immediate demolition of acquired properties, Tugade said the order will be followed by the DOTr but they may still be limited by \u201crealities on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKapag nagdala ka ng\u00a0<\/em>bulldozer\u00a0dun, maglalagay sila ng tao na nakaharang dun bago mo<\/em>\u00a0bulldozering (If you bring a bulldozer, people might simply lie down and block its way). So, there are delays and there are hiccups along the way,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Last week, senators suggested cuts in the proposed PHP147-billion budget of the DOTr for 2020 due to low disbursement rate, and for the amount to be distributed among other government agencies instead.<\/p>\n

Opposition senator and Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon also claimed that the \u201cBuild, Build, Build\u201d program of the Duterte administration was a massive failure, but was belied by Tugade citing the DOTr\u2019s accelerated spending and several completed and ongoing projects under the current administration.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Wednesday reported an increase in its disbursement rate in 2019, and warned that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":164498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","mauthors-raymond-carl-dela-cruz","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238146","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\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238146"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238148,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238146\/revisions\/238148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}