THE House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday approved President Benigno S. Aquino III’s P2.7 billion spending plan for the Office of the President (OP) for fiscal year 2013.
The OP’s proposed budget was presented by Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. to the House Committee on Appropriations and was quickly cleared by committee members in the spirit of inter-parliamentary courtesy and in deference to a co-equal branch of government.
Ochoa thanked members of the House Appropriations Committee for “extending this courtesy and immediately approving the OP budget.”
The 2013 OP budget is 4.26 percent higher than this year’s appropriation of P2.7 billion, with the bulk of the increase going to the funding requirements for salary adjustments under the fourth tranche of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL), as well as major repairs, rehabilitation and improvement of various buildings and facilities inside the Malacañang Complex.
The P111-million increase in the OP’s proposed spending package for the next fiscal year would go to Personal Services (PS), up P39 million to P552.9 million; and Capital Outlays (CO), from P150.6 million to P300.4 million.
The OP has slashed the allocation Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOE) by P77million to P1.88 billion, from the current fiscal year’s P1.96 billion.
Appropriation for Capital Outlays under the OP’s proposed budget measure has been adjusted upward to fund the improvements of various buildings and facilities inside Malacanang, some of which are over a hundred years old. Presidential residences outside the Malacanang Complex will also undergo repairs namely, the Mansion House in Baguio City; Malacanang Park in Nagtahan, Manila; and the Malacañang sa Sugbu in Cebu City.
The Executive Secretary said the OP budget is “guided by the principles of fiscal discipline, principles the OP applies by defining specific objectives and priorities in terms of projects and activities, efficiency by observing the best value for money in the allocation and use of resources, and transparency and accountability by assigning delivery units as cost centers.” (PCOO/p-gg)