Bottoms-up Budgeting

Ben Contreras

IF the Commission on Audit has the Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has the Bottoms-up Budgeting (BUB). Both are more or less geared toward a more participative governance or people empowerment.

CPA was conceptualized by the then COA chair Grace Pulido Tan, and this program is still being practiced. The presentation of the BUB aroused my curiosity on its author/s. Honestly, I suspect the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo could be it since it has always been his style of governance––people empowerment, participative, transparency and accountability. Well, I was right although he was just one of them.

BUB started in 2013, and is a brainchild of four secretaries––Robredo, Budget Secretary Butch Abad, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, and another one I missed. It aims to bring the basic sector organizations and other civil society organizations as partners in budget proposals in accordance to the needs of cities and municipalities as identified. From the Regional Development Council, the planning is being brought to the lower echelons like the Barangay Development Council.

BUB’s three-year program doesn’t look impressive. Of the 3,172 projects of different departments in the government, only 814 were completed. Many reasons can be attributed to it. Among them are un-liquidated cash advances, documentary requirements, etc.

The Seal of Good Financial Housekeeping has been mentioned as an award given to LGUs. But this award cannot be given to one that has un-liquidated cash advances (UCA). Out of curiosity, I asked if the LGU of Cagayan de Oro City has been an awardee of that. The answer is no. Otherwise, I could have questioned it because I got information that someone is being investigated by COA for UCA.

Would not the LGUs see BUB as an encroachment to their mandates? Not at all! But LGUs that have a lot to hide may not welcome it for obvious reasons.

If you want to know more of BUB or to be a part of this program, see OIC regional director Nilo Castañares. I tell you, he is not oil in the water. He is water that easily seeks its own level.

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Robinson’s was packed with people who were beating the deadline for biometric registration. One place in the mall has been a favorite watering hole of political observers. One asked who these people were, and where they’re coming from. Who cares?

He cares… He cares because he sees people who are not supposed to be there, people who belongs to an LGU, government employees who have no business at all to be there. He seems to be implying that thing like “hakot” is happening.

Somehow, I don’t want to believe that until I finally saw what he meant. And when they talked with barangay chairs, something must have been cooking. Who were they working for? Of course, if you know them, then it’s easy to know who they’re working for. Hence, aspirants, take note. Don’t get caught with your pants down.

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Haze. Was it serious? At a certain level, it was for those with health problems like asthma, coughs and other bronchial or lungelated maladies.

The wind direction has changed. No need to be alarmed, said the DOH while claiming that pollution in the streets is worse. So why are some of our traffic enforcers not wearing masks? They are in the middle of the streets, and they need protection. They’re not robots.