Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, said that the economic stimulus package proposed by Albay Governor Joey Salceda is already adequately funded by Congress in the recently approved 2008 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) with the additional increases in the appropriations for social services and infrastructure development on top of the expanded budget proposed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

According to Lagman, “the impetus for growth to impede the expected economic slowdown as a consequence of the emerging recession in the United States has been budgeted by Congress in the GAB, thereby dispensing with the need for a supplemental budget for which funding support may be difficult to source without resorting to fresh borrowings and new taxes.”

However, the proposals for electric and water rates discounts and tax refunds for middle class taxpayers which are “virtual dole outs” have no appropriation cover, Lagman added.

The Appropriations chair explained that the components of the economic stimulus package on more spending in education, health, agriculture and infrastructure; expanded Philhealth coverage; college scholarships and technical and vocational training; and education vouchers are already funded in the GAB as follows:

1. An increase of P4.829 billion for the education sector or a total new appropriations of P158.602 billion for basic and higher education, excluding the P3.163 billion allocation for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) which is an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE);
2. An augmentation of P5.790 billion for the health sector or a total new appropriations of P25.847 billion for the Department of Health (DOH), specialized hospitals and Philhealth;
3. P1.872 billion more for the agricultural sector or a total new appropriations of P29.161 billion for the Department of Agriculture (DA) and attached agencies and the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA); and
4. An increase of P10.278 billion for infrastructure or a total new aggregate appropriations for the infrastructure sector of P123.567 billion distributed to various programs and agencies, principally Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), Department of Education school building program, DOH facilities and Municipal Development Fund.

Lagman stated that more specific outlays may be relevant as follows:

1. P1.0 billion for Philhealth coverage has been added to the original proposal in the National Expenditure Program of P3.5 billion or a new total appropriation of P4.5 billion for Philhealth to approximate universal coverage, excluding allocations from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF);
2. A total of P5.466 billion is allocated for scholarships with education vouchers funded under the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) in the amount of P2.908 billion and additional scholarship grants amounting to another P2.558 billion as authorized in the appropriations of TESDA in the amount of P1.2 billion; National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) of P118.6 million; Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of P321 million; State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) additional allocation of P27.5 million; and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) of P890.6 million, exclusive of scholarship grants sourced from the PDAF; and
3. Financial assistance to indigent patients in government hospitals of approximately P703.9 million provided for under the subsidy for specialized hospitals, the Philippine General Hospital and other government hospitals, excluding funding from the PDAF approximating more than P1.0 billion.

Lagman emphasized that the budgetary realignments and augmentations which came from the P38.5 billion cuts made by Congress from debt service, slow-moving projects and some bloated allocations can be attributed in their entirety to funding the economic stimulus package.

The proposals on tax refund to middle class taxpayers, electric and water rates discounts and conditional cash transfers of P7,000 per beneficiary family are “virtual dole outs which destroy self-reliance and entrepreneurship,” Lagman said.

Moreover, he underscored that there is no appropriation cover for these inflationary subsidies and the amounts which would be spent for these dole outs could be better used for generating more jobs and livelihood programs, more barangay and sitio electrification and more countryside potable water systems.

The proposed discount to households consuming 200 kilowatt hours of electricity per month would entail “a clerical nightmare considering that virtually all households in the country would be entitled to the discount since the average monthly household/residential consumption in Metro Manila is P198.6 kwh and 139 kwh nationwide, based on the data of the Department of Finance as of June 30, 2007,” Lagman said.

He added that “with 1,496 barangays and 29,743 sitios still not energized, millions of Filipinos would like to enjoy the proposed electricity discount but unfortunately, they are denied electric facilities.”

The water rates discounts will be “illusory to 432 municipalities and 1,563,091 households which do not have access to potable water according to the data of the Department of the Interior and Local Government,” Lagman also revealed.