Photo Release

“Guesstimates” in the budget: Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano appeals to his colleagues to take a “giant step” toward requiring all government departments to provide Congress a basis for their proposed programs for the 2023 National Expenditure Program. Cayetano, during the plenary session Tuesday, August 2, 2022, noted that there were many instances during his 30 years in the government where he could not get a concrete answer or actual data on how a specific agency intends to spend its budget. “So, I guess for 2023, parts of the budget will still be guesstimates but hopefully, we’ll take a giant step forward in requiring the departments to give the basis and find programs... to find the basis for that (proposal). And then later on, 2024, 2025 hopefully there would be more budgeting based on facts and on data, rather than these guesstimates,” Cayetano said. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)