No ‘For Later Release’ funds in proposed 2023 national budget —DBM

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Thursday said there are no “For Later Release” (FLR) funds in the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023.

During the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC) briefing for senators, Pangandaman said that during her stint as Budget Undersecretary under then-Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno—now the secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF)—the term “FLR funds” was not used.

“Under Secretary Diokno po, wala po kaming tinatawag na FLR. So it’s actually something new to us when I reentered DBM,” the Budget chief said.

FLR funds are items in the budget which can only be released with the approval of the President.

“When I entered DBM, nakita ko po na napakaraming dokumento ang kailangan pirmahan at ipadala sa Office of the President,” Pangandaman said.

“I thought then that it’s quite tedious for the staff and even the Office of the President na tumatagal po ‘yung sistema ng pagre-release ng budget. So pag-assume po natin, nagbigay po tayo ng instructions na wala na po dapat na for later release sa mga pondo po ng gobyerno,” she said.

For his part, Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, said that FLR funds and cash-based budgeting are antithetical to each other.

Under cash-based budgeting, the validity of budget appropriations are reduced to one year with no carry-over provision except for a three-month extended payment period within the following fiscal year to allow agencies to settle payments for goods and services delivered. 

This means projects need to be completed within the fiscal year.

Diokno, during his stint as DBM chief, had advocated for a cash-based budgeting. — BM, GMA News