By Manny Piñol
The Department of Agriculture (DA), which in the past posted huge underspending in its annual budget, was cited by the Commission on Audit Monday for a very high 97% Budget Utilization in 2017.
During the Annual Exit Conference conducted by the COA Team assigned to the DA and the agencies under it, the COA Chief Auditor also said that the cash utilization of the DA was at 62%, meaning that the cash released during the year represented 62% of the obligated budget.
Payments and disbursements for the year usually cross over to the following year because there are projects which would take more than one year to complete.
Personally, I was very pleased with the historic high Budget Utilization of the DA simply meant that we were able to deliver 97% of the programmed services to farmers and fishermen.
When I assumed as Secretary of Agriculture in mid-2016, the DA had an unspent amount of about P7-B carried over from the previous years.
Farm machinery and equipment procured by the DA amounting to billions of pesos were not distributed and left rusting in many regions of the country.
Ever since I became a local government executive, I have always emphasized two things on the importance of efficient budget use:
1. Unspent and unutilized budget by a government agency indicates incompetence and poor planning and financial management;
2. Any amount of budget which is not utilized represents services due to the people which were not delivered.
The improvement in the DA’s Budget Utilization is the result of Quarterly and Annual Budget Utilization Review which I initiated last year.
At the end of every Quarter, offices and agencies under the DA were called to a conference to report on the budget utilization performance.
There was an understanding that any office which could not reach the 90% Budget Utilization threshhold would be sanctioned.
Last year, the DA Regional Office in Cagayan Valley under Executive Director Lorenzo Caraguinan led outstanding performers in budget obligation and utilization 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%.
The financial team led by Director Miriam Cornelio, Budget Division Chief Telma Tolentino and Accounting Division Chief Charie Saquing reported that the 3% 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.
During the last 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).
During the same COA Exit Conference, the Audit Team raised the red flag on several transactions which did not adhere to set government guidelines on procurement.
These questionable transactions included an P11.4-million procurement by a regional office which did not undergo bidding.
These will be thoroughly investigated.
Next year will be more challenging as the national governments shifts to cash budgeting.
(Photos by Mayette Tudlas)
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