DBM assures prompt release of IRA
By Rose B. Palacio
Davao City (24 October) -- Following the approval of the supplemental budget, Budget Management (DBM) Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said this would pave the way for the release of P14.86 billion in internal revenue allotment (IRA) to local government units.
Funds for the IRA is the biggest bulk in the supplemental budget. He said the supplemental budget would give us the authority to expand spending and will give us wider spending latitude.
Andaya said less than 15 percent of the P47-billion supplemental budget are activities in the nature of capital outlays, the rest are personal services and maintenance and other operating expenses.
This means that expenditures outside of capital outlays will be released based on existing disbursement protocols.
Among these are the salaries of the 500 jail guards and the 10,000 teachers who might be hired, payments to war veterans, AFP retirees, and former policemen, firemen and jail guards.
Also to be “flagged off” is P1.15-billion to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., in premium payments for indigents covered by health insurance.
Andaya said the supplemental budget would give the education sector a “big shot in the arm”, as it allocates P9.6-billion for a “wide array of resources, from teachers, to textbooks, to libraries, to computers. (PIA-XI) [top]
