A lawmaker on Thursday, September 9, asked the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to explain and review the processes of withholding funds in its budget involving “For Later Release” (FLR).
During the House committee on appropriations’ deliberations on the CHED’s proposed 2022 budget, Iloilo 1st District Representative Janette Garin was dismayed about the FLR in the 2021 CHED budget amounting to P45.6 million ($913,548.48).
“Kasi nakakadurog po ng puso. Tinitingnan ko po na it’s subsidies for tuition fees of medical students (Because it’s really heartbreaking. I saw that it’s supposedly for subsidies for tuition fees of medical students). If you go to private institutions, academic scholarships are quite difficult to get,” Garin said.
FLR is an item in an agency’s budget that requires additional documents to justify its release.
Garin asked CHED Chairperson Prospero de Vera III if FLRs were normal in the agency’s budget in previous years.
“Dalawang budget year na po na may nakalagay sa GAA na FLR (It’s been two budget years that there are FLRs in the General Appropriations Act). These are realignments done to the NEP (National Expenditure Program). These are labeled as FLRs and that have yet to be approved by DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and OP (Office of the President),” De Vera said.
The CHED chairperson said that some FLRs had already been released while some are still pending.
“Commitment namin kapag nakuha na namin ang (Our commitment is that when we get the) money, we implement it,” he said.
But Garin seemed unconvinced about putting FLRs in the CHED budget. She said these could have been used in funding programs that would benefit students.
“Will the chairman agree with me na kapag may bata na gusto maging professional (that if a child wants to be a professional), we take advantage of that dream?” she asked.
Restore slashed budget
The CHED was asking help from Congress to restore some P9.7 billion ($194.4 million) in funds that the DBM slashed from the commission’s P62.3-billion ($1.2 billion) budget proposal for 2022.
De Vera said that the CHED needs the slashed funds in order to implement laws passed by Congress, such as the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act.
“We’re asking [for] money so we [can] produce quality medical programs. We need facilities, equipment, and faculty items. We want to make sure that the desire of the Congress to produce more medical graduates is to produce very good medical graduates, not just medical graduates. We want to produce very good doctors,” De Vera said in a previous hearing.
During the hearing, Baguio City Representative Mark Go said the budget cut will definitely affect the programs of CHED.
“As chairman of the committee on higher and technical education, I fully support CHED to bring back their original proposed budget of P62 billion,” he said, adding that the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act will help the country produce health workers.
“Marami pong estudyante ang gustong mag-medisina at hinihintay po nila itong Doktor Para sa Bayan Act. Tapos na po ang IRR (implementing rules and regulations) at pondo na lang ang hinhintay,” he said.
(A lot of students who want to take up medicine programs are waiting for this Doktor Para sa Bayan Act. The IRR is already done and it’s only awaiting funding.)
Go assured De Vera that he will defend CHED’s budget during the plenary deliberations.
But for Garin, the CHED should first address why there were FLRs in its budget. She asked for commitment from the agency that its request for additional funds will not fall under FLR.
“Here we are deliberating the CHED budget. Personally, I want to get back that P62 billion. If we approve this and we are deliberating this budget, can we get that assurance that whatever we’re discussing will not be labeled as FLR? Can we get that assurance from the chairman? I know it’s beyond the powers of Chairman Popoy,” Garin said.
She added, “It’s time to go back and discuss with the DBM and assess the real process.”
Garin then moved to suspend the deliberations of the CHED budget for 2022 pending an answer from the concerned agency that “they will never put the budget as FLR.” This was seconded by other lawmakers present in the hearing. – Rappler.com
$1 = P49.85
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