BBM to Order Sweeping Review of Agency Budgets

President Marcos is ready to order a sweeping review of the proposed budgets of agencies, Malacañang said yesterday as it urged the different agencies to check their respective proposed outlays for possible insertions and other questionable items.

- Alexis Romero

The administration is looking into alleged anomalies that resulted in substandard or non-existent flood control projects, a problem widely believed to have worsened the effects of cyclones and other weather disturbances.

Marcos has ordered a lifestyle check on officials and a thorough review of the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), that he said was dotted with insertions.

However, some lawmakers claimed that there are also questionable items in the spending program of other agencies, including the firearms deal of the interior and local government department, farm-to-market roads of the agriculture department and a beautification program of the health department.

"If there are other agencies involved, the directive of the President will be the same," Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said at a press briefing yesterday.

Castro encouraged agencies to check their respective proposed outlays for possible insertions and other questionable items.

Newly appointed Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said he met with Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Wednesday to discuss changes in his department's budget.

"I was told the DPWH budget in the NEP is 700 pages; I need to study it," Dizon said at a briefing.