Drilon lauds early submission of P2.006-T
expenditure program; vows timely passage of budget

Senator Franklin M. Drilon lauded the early submission of the P2.006-trillion proposed national budget for 2013 to Congress, saying it creates ample space for a thorough scrutiny of the country's expenditure programs.

"I commend the early submission of the 2013 budget to Congress which shows that this government is committed to fast-track its infrastructure and social services programs next year," said Drilon, who is also the Senate Committee on Finance chairman.

"In the past two years, we were able to pass the General Appropriations Acts before December 31 of each year, and if we were able to do it then, I am confident that we can do it again with the cooperation of everyone," Drilon said.

"Ito pong budget na ito ay talagang maganda at para sa tao dahil sa pamamagitan nito ay ibinabalik natin sa taumbayan kung ano ang karapat-dapat sa kanila," added Drilon.

Among the big items in the budget, the conditional cash transfer - the Aquino administration's flagship poverty alleviation program -is expected to get the attention of the legislators because of its huge allocation, noted Drilon.

Drilon said that the proposed budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development to implement the CCT in 2013 is P44.26 billion, an increase of 12.2 percent from its 2012 allocation of P39.45 billion.

"This will translate to additional 702,790 household beneficiaries for 2013 from 3,106,979 this year," ended Drilon.

It can be recalled that during a recent joint congressional hearing on the multi-billion programs, Drilon asked the DSWD to review the administrative cost for CCT and consider reducing it to about 7 percent from 10 percent.

"Your budget is far in excess of what is acceptable as administrative cost. Given the magnitude of this program, we should be more accurate in budgeting in terms of administrative cost," said Drilon.