President Duterte should order government agencies to add the most important column in their monthly publication of funds spent, and that is for “goods and services delivered to the people.” 

“Spent” is a broad term, and is often used to disguise delays in the delivery of government programs and projects. An agency can glowingly report that an allotment has been obligated, when what it really means is that it is just in the procurement phase. 

There is one litmus test in budget spending, and that is what are meant to be procured for the people have been received by them. This delivery receipt is the most important.

Pwede kasi i-report na nakabili na ng bigas, pero kung ito ay hindi pa naipamahagi sa taong bayan, o binubukbok lang sa warehouse, ano ang pakinabang ng mamamayan dito? 

Para ding PPE o gamot ‘yan, kung iuulat na nabili na, pero ilang buwan nang nakatengga sa bodega habang maraming frontliners ang nangangailangan nito, hindi ba’t hungkag na spending yan?

For example: DSWD had reported months ago that it had downloaded the bulk of the money for the SAP, but this hides the fact that the actual payout to beneficiaries has been hounded by delays. 

Artificial spending also happens when an agency transfers funds to another, thereby beating the spending clock, preventing it from being reverted to the Treasury and reporting the money as spent.

This pasa-load type of procurement is window dressing. Ang ginagawa ng isang agency, tulad ng PNP, AFP, DOH at DOTR noon ay ililipat ang pondo sa DBM Procurement Service o sa Philippine International Trading Corp., a government corporation, at aatasang sila na ang mag-pa-bid.

But in reality, funds are not immediately spent, and are merely parked in another agency. This subverts the very essence of cash budgeting, which seeks to accelerate disbursement. This creates the illusion of money spent when what happened was the budgetary equivalent of passing the buck.

Spending must be faster than the virus and funds must not mutate into other uses.(###)