DBM to craft guidelines for restoration of funds to 'defunded' projects

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manny Bonoan on Wednesday said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will craft guidelines to restore funds to projects that were defunded for this fiscal year.

In an episode of Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon, Bonoan said President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. was worried about these defunded projects, which are considered critical to his socioeconomic programs. 

''He's worried about all these kasi ito 'yung support to all operations ito, we need these funds to implement these projects.Ang kabilin-bilinan ni Presidente doon sa Cabinet meeting is that we have to make sure that we can return all these funds,'' Bonoan said.

''The Department of Budget and Management will be preparing guidelines on how the funds will be recovered over the years,'' Bonoan added.

During a full Cabinet meeting, Marcos said he wants government agencies to reexamine the administration’s programs contained in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) but were defunded by Congress.

Marcos said he is willing to sit down with each department to ensure that the government’s actual expenditure program will resemble the NEP.

The President emphasized that many issues need to be addressed, including the P12-billion decrease in the budget for the maintenance of roads, P500-million reduction in the funding for routine maintenance of bridges and the P21-billion budget cut for feasibility studies.

Marcos signed into law the proposed P6.326 trillion national budget for fiscal year 2025 on December 30.

He directly vetoed over P194 billion worth of line items that are not consistent with his administration's priorities, including some programs of the DPWH. —RF, GMA Integrated News