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E-mailThe Aquino administration has proposed a P22.3 billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for next year, marking a more than 200 percent increase from this year’s PDAF, which came to P6.9 billion.
The proposed PDAF accounts for 1.36 percent of next year’s budget, which will total P1.65 trillion – a 6.7 percent increase from this year’s budget of P1.54 trillion.
Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad mentioned that the administration will implement a “menu” for use of the funds as a safeguard against abuse.
“The PDAF is higher at P22.3 billion. However, this will incorporate both the hard and soft components of the program. The menus will be limited to the priority programs of the administration,” Abad said.
According to Abad, up to P15.4 billion of the PDAF will be for infrastructure projects. The menu will also include projects for social services and economic services.
Departments will also be required to publish the details of their projects in their websites in a bid to maintain transparency.
Congressmen usually get P70 million PDAF allocation a year, while senators get P200 million to support their projects. The PDAF has also been referred to as the "pork barrel" due to the history of financial misuse among some lawmakers.
Despite the increase in budget, the government is looking to implement widespread cost-cutting measures.
“From the very start, the President has been saying that we have to be frugal and conscious of the deficit that we inherited. I think that [these measures] may have an impact," said Abad.
Among the measures is the shutting down of several programs that have become "irrelevant." These programs include Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor), the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), task forces in the Office of the President, and locally funded projects that have finished their mandates.
The government will also pull the plug on several programs launched during the Arroyo administration which “no longer [deliver] the outcomes intended.”
These include Food-for-School program, input subsidies of the Department of Agriculture, the Kalayaan Barangay Program which provides for development projects in military conflict-affected areas, and the Kilos Asenso Program, which supports infrastructure-building in provinces.
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