THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will ask for P69 billion in Tier-2 budget funding for 2019, after the Budget department called on government agencies last month to make proposals to tap the P362.3-billion Tier-2 budget for new projects in 2019.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, who will meet with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to defend his proposal, expressed confidence that the DA’s improved utilization of funds will help it achieve its budget goals, even though its proposal, if granted, will take up more than a sixth of the available money.
Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno has said “funding pressures” from military pension reform, among others, will need to be addressed in 2019, and also suggested that the DBM will be selective in approving Tier-2 as a result of those pressures.
“The first thing that we will have to justify when we meet with DBM [is] our capability to absorb [a large budget]. I’m happy to report that the Department of Agriculture was able to [absorb] 94.6% of its budget allocation,” he added, referring to the department’s utilization rate for 2017.
Mr. Piñol, in a social media post, said the failure to use 100% of its P45.9-billion budget in 2017 was due to failed bids and the non-implementation of some foreign-funded projects.
“[The higher utilization rate in 2018] was mainly because of our quarterly review of our budget utilization and cash utilization,” he added.
“So, the first-quarter budget utilization seems to indicate that we are capable of absorbing a huge budget because our budget utilization almost hit 100% in the first quarter.”
Under its Tier-2 proposal, Mr. Piñol said that P10 billion will be allotted to an easy-access credit program to help wean farmers away from outright subsidies.
Other Tier-2 funding proposals are P4.88 billion for the rice program and P1.7 billion for corn, with fisheries to be allocated P16 billion to support procurement by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
