By Manny Piñol
The advocacy of the Duterte Administration to ensure that government funds allocated to every government agency are spent to the fullest marked a milestone in 2017 as the Department of Agriculture (DA) posted a 94.56% Budget Utilisation.
In the Quarterly Budget Obligation and Utilization Review held yesterday, the Regional Office of the Department of Agriculture in Cagayan Valley under Executive Director Lorenzo Caraguinan led outstanding performers in budget obligation and utilization for 2017 with a perfect 100%, meaning the office spent almost every centavo of the money allocated to it last year.
Placing second with a Budget Utilization of 99.99% was the Ilocos Regional Office under Executive Director Lucrecio Alviar, Jr. while the Cordillera Autonomous Region under Executive Director Narciso Edillo placed third with 99.98%.
All the three Regional Offices received Plaques of Appreciation from the Department Secretary for their outstanding performance in Budget Obligation and Utilization.
The financial team led by Director Miriam Cornelio, Budget Division Chief Telma Tolentino and Accounting Division Chief Charie Saquing reported that the 4.44% Budget for 2017 which was not utilized represented failed biddings and foreign-funded projects which could no longer be implemented because it no longer had local counterpart funds.
The 94.56% Budget Utilization for 2017 was the highest ever posted by the Department of Agriculture.
Also in yesterday’s Quarterly Budget Obligation and Utilization Review, the top three performers in Budget Obligation and Utilization in the First Quarter of 2018 were Region 1 Ilocos with 71.91%, Region 2 Cagayan Valley with 53.96% and Region V Bicol with 52.87%.
This means that the topnotcher, Ilocos Region under Director Alviar has already obligated 71.91% of his annual budget for 2018 by conducting biddings and procurement in the First Quarter alone.
The Quarterly and Annual Budget Obligation Review was a financial management innovation which was started last year after I observed the very slow disbursement of funds allocated to the Department.
In fact, when I assumed office as Secretary of Agriculture in 2016, the Department had about P7-B of unspent funds from 2015 which I ordered utilized immediately.
Starting the Last Quarter of 2016, I directed the Financial Management Team to conduct a Quarterly Review of the Budget Obligation and Utilization of all Offices, Regional Offices, Bureaus and Attached Agencies of the Agriculture Department.
Heads of the offices are called to a one-day workshop after the end of every Quarter where they are informed of the results of the Audit and the observations made by the Financial Audit Team to improve their performance.
In my many years of service in government, I have always adhered to the policy that government funds must be disbursed quickly as these are necessary to address the problems of the people.
I have publicly stated that any official who proudly claims that he has accumulated savings in his agency, department or local government unit is actually admitting that he is a very poor financial manager and an incompetent administrator because government money which is not spent represents services due to the people which were not delivered.
During yesterday’s Budget Obligation and Utilization Review, I also issued two very important directives:
1. The organization of a financial and management team which would assess and review the problems encountered by poor performing regions and department so remedial measures could be implemented;
2. The organization of an audit and evaluation team, which I will personally head, to look into the utilization of the budget and the impact of the projects in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The assessment and audit will start as soon as the teams are organized.
(Photos taken by OSEC Staff Fathma Sulaik and the staff of USEC Ariel Cayanan show the awarding of plaques to outstanding performers in Budget Obligation and Utilization and the top officials of the Department during yesterday’s Quarterly Review.)
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