By Charmaine A. Tadalan, Reporter
HOUSE Appropriations Committee chair Rolando G. Andaya, Jr. flagged an estimated P50 billion in public funds “lying idle” in offices under the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Officials of the Commission on Audit disclosed that at least P17 billion transferred to the DBM-Procurement Service remains idle and unaudited as of Dec. 2018, while P31.6 billion has been unused for years in the Philippine International Trading Corp., under DTI.
Of the P17 billion in inter-agency fund transfers (IAFTs), P16.6 billion were from National Government Agencies, P426.5 million from Government Owned and Controlled Corporations; and P49.8 million from Local Government Units, as cited by Joey Bernardino, CoA Team Leader tasked to audit the DBM-PS.
Mr. Bernardino also said P4.6 billion in the DBM-PS was transferred from the Philippine National Police, and P2.4 billion from the Department of Education.
“Ang daming pangangailangan ng PNP at DepEd, hindi naman pala nagagamit ang bilyong pondo nila at nakatago lang ito sa DBM-PS (DBM-Procurement Service),” Mr. Andaya, who represents the 1st district of Camarines Sur, said in a statement, Friday. (The PNP and DepEd are in so much need of funds, but billions remained hidden in the DBM-PS.)
He said this resulted from revisions in the implementing rules and regulation of the Government Procurement Reform Act, under Republic Act. No. 9184, as made by the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB), which is chaired by Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno.

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