Saturday, April 12, 2008 Villar: Supplemental budget may be needed for Fields program
THE executive department should consider sending a supplemental budget to Congress that would fund the agricultural Fields (fertilizer, irrigation and infrastructure, education and extension, loans and insurance, dryers and other post-harvest facilities, and seeds) program, which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recommended during the Food Summit in Clark Field, Pampanga.
Senate President Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. made the suggestion saying that funding authority is required if some of the funds eyed in the six-point food production plan are not covered by the 2008 national budget. He added that doing so will mean more accountability and transparency in its spending.
The Constitution is clear on this: No money can leave the Treasury without an appropriation from Congress, Villar said.
But if the executive would argue that projects mulled for implementation in the Fields program are already in the P1.226 trillion national budget, Villar said, then the conclusion is that no new projects were launched because the President simply repackaged what were already in the law.
If that will be the argument, then it may be concluded that Fields is a mere relabeled existing program. It is just a new brand for an old product, said the lawmaker.
According to Villar, either way, the President will be violating the law, by spending money without authority, or she will be violating the people's trust, by saying that there are new programs for rice and food when there are none.
The best option for the executive department, he said, is to send a supplemental budget bill to Congress, so new fund for new projects can come in and make Fields a true program not an empty acronym.
Villar said he foresees no problem with Senate cooperation on an issue that transcends political interest because it concerns the common man's kaldero (steel pot).
He said the Senate has a track record in passing supplemental budgets, the last one in 2006, when the P46 billion supplemental national budget later became Republic Act (RA) 9358.
The President called Fields as key ingredients in making food accessible, abundant and affordable.
To implement it, she ordered the release of P48.7 billion in emergency budgetary support, loans and grants to the agriculture and fisheries sectors. (CPB/Sunnex)
