Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, chairperson of the House committee on ways and means has vowed to push for special provisions and unprogrammed appropriations to expand food production and reduce inflation.
“I plan to introduce amendments to the budget to expand food production and reduce prices through higher productive capacity,” he said.
Salceda added that he plans to do this “since the policy of the administration is continuity of the PRRD spending plan for the first year.”
Salceda noted that the P5.268 trillion budget did not deviate from the amount proposed by the Duterte administration.
To give President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. room to fight inflation and pursue his own priorities, however, Salceda said that he will introduce “unprogrammed appropriations and special provisions so that he has flexibility when we earn more revenues next year.”
“Among the provisions, I will be introducing are unprogrammed appropriations for climate resilience in our crops, support for farmers and fisherfolk affected by rising input costs, provisions for government to government procurement of food and other agri inputs, and provisions for value-chain enhancements.”
Salceda also warned that the country could suffer rice supply issues if the Yangtze River drought in China persists and affects other areas such as Vietnam and Thailand.
“Definitely, the budget should be an instrument of food security and economic resilience as well.”
“I will also be adding provisions allowing the DTI to support small businesses through capacity building, unprogrammed appropriations to support more farm-to-market roads, and other PBBM priorities such as tourism roads.”
“I will also add provisions that will allow PBBM to draw from excess revenues to pursue government-to-government procurement of agri inputs and food, just in case our food supply issues persist next year.”
“These will help reduce inflation by expanding productive capacity and lowering logistics and other pass-through costs,” Salceda said.
Salceda added that “basically, the budget will also be the country’s Inflation Reduction Act, since this appears to be the most potent opportunity to insert inflation-busting mechanisms.”
“After all, the budget should reflect our national priorities, and inflation reduction is currently the biggest, most important one.”
He assured Mr. Marcos that his committee will be able to find excess revenues to fund inflation reduction programs next year.
“This is my assurance to PBBM: I will find the money needed for such provisions. If he needs the funding, he will have the funding. That is my guarantee.”
The House tax chair earlier said he has already found at least P179 billion in non-tax revenue sources that can be readily realized by the President. Salceda said he already presented the same to Mr. Marcos and his economic managers.
Salceda also said that, during a meeting between the House leadership and the economic managers, the latter greenlighted the use of unprogrammed appropriations to anticipate unforeseen needs next year.