AUG.

7, 2013

NR # 3188C

Abad bares key principle and reforms under the 2014 GAA
Equalization of opportunities is the moving principle behind President Benigno Aquinos proposed 2014 P2.268 spending bill that seeks to realize inclusive development. This was how Budget Secretary Florencio Abad painted the overall macro-economic principles guiding the proposed General Appropriations Act before members of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives chaired by Rep. Isidro T. Ungab (3rd District, Davao City). We are moving towards performance-informed budgeting. It is more than job creation, but equalization of opportunities for Filipinos, Abad said as he outlined the 2014 national expenditure program before the actual panel deliberations start on the proposed GAA. Abad, once again stressed that transparency and accountability of public institutions remain at the core of the focus of government to sustain public trust and pursue its reform agenda. The governments obligation, Abad added, is to continue addressing inequities in accessing these opportunities which, on the supply side, include capacitating the people through basic services like education, healthcare and social protection, the DBM head said. He added that other opportunities, on the demand side, that need to be addressed is the promotion of growth that benefits the lowest of sectors especially the countrys unskilled and uneducated workers. During the presentation, Abad noted that, Panay kuwenta pero malabo ang kuwento is the old face of budgeting. Now, the new face is malinaw ang kuwento sa bawat kuwenta, he quipped. Before there used to be long lines of inputs and activities descriptions, now, the mandates and priority outcomes of agencies are specified upfront. Now, we also focus on major final outputs and have clear performance indicators, among others, he added. Abad also stressed efforts of the Aquino government to establish and sustain better collaboration among all stakeholders, both public and private, as the new standard in Government. To enable the private sector to be active engine of economic growth, Abad underlined the creation of conducive environment for business, strengthening of Public-Private Partnership and the promotion of a new business model. Aside from putting transparency at the core of effective public financial management, Abad emphasized the vitality of empowering the citizens through the budget. We can achieved empowerment of citizens through budget information disclosure, agency-civil society budget partnerships and what we refer to as bottom-up budgeting, he added. Budget information disclosure means improvement in the implementation of Transparency Seal, especially disclosures relative to the Priority Development Assistance Fund, and that of translating the budget for ordinary citizens to understand. (30) dpt