STATEMENT
OF SECRETARY ROMULO ON THE 2005 DFA BUDGET
19 OCTOBER 2004, DFA MEDIA ROOM
I wish
to inform you that the Department of Foreign Affairs is submitting for
consideration by the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
a budget for fiscal year 2005 in the amount of PhP4,937,633,000.00 which
is about .5% of the total budget proposed by the government of P907,589,726,000.00.
For the current fiscal year, the budget allocated to the DFA is P4,409,389,000.00.
There has been an increase of 11% or P528,244,000.
The
Fiscal Year 2005 budget is broken down into the following components:
-
Personal
Services which accounts for 59% of the budget amounting to P2,901,865,000.
The amount covers the salaries and allowances of 679 regular and 64 casual/contractual
personnel assigned at the Home Office, the salaries and the allowances
of the 1,190 regular personnel deployed at the 85 Philippine embassies,
consulates and missions abroad, and the salaries and allowances of the
466 locally-hired employees at various foreign service posts. Despite the
substantial increase in the cost of living abroad, no corresponding increase
in allowances for regular personnel deployed overseas has been factored
in the 2005 budget. The last adjustment of allowances for the Department
of Foreign Affairs personnel was made in 1993.
-
Maintenance
and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) which amounts to PhP1,841,469,000 an
amount corresponding to 37% of the total budget. MOOE covers rent, supplies
and materials, printing of passports, assistance to nationals and other
operating expenses of the Home Office and Foreign Service Posts. Rent covers
the biggest share in the MOOE amounting to PhP586,193,000 or 31.83%.
-
Assistance
to Nationals Fund amounts to P45,000,000; and Legal Assistance Fund
is P15,000,000.
-
The final
component of the proposed DFA budget is Capital Outlays (CO) amounting
to P194,299,000 or about 4% of the total budget. Capital outlays cover
the costs for the renovation of deteriorating government-owned chanceries/residences
and the acquisition of new properties overseas to serve as sites of future
chanceries/residences of the Foreign Service. Cost of renovation is chargeable
against the Building Fund that amounts to P188,534,000 and this is in accordance
with Special Provision No. 2, which authorizes the use of consular income
not exceeding 10% of the amount actually collected and realized in the
fiscal year 2004.
The amount of P2,265,000 will be used for the purchase of library books
and materials both for the Home Office and the Foreign Service Posts.
The remaining balance of P3,500,000 is earmarked for the acquisition of
furniture and fixture , and office equipment both in the Home Office and
the Foreign Service Posts.
The proposed
budget for 2005, which I restate is .5% of the total national budget, will
enable the Department to fully implement the three pillars of President
Arroyo’s foreign policy, namely, ensuring national security, conduct of
economic diplomacy and the promotion of the interest and welfare of over
7 million Overseas Filipino Workers.
In
keeping with the austerity program of the Government, the Department of
Foreign Affairs is undertaking various cost cutting measures to ensure
that the tax payer’s money is judiciously spent.
The
DFA will be presenting its budget for 2005 at the budget hearing to be
conduct by the House Committee on Appropriations tomorrow, 20 October 2004.
It is my hope that the Honorable Members of the House Committee would lend
their support for the DFA’s budget proposal that would empower the Foreign
Service Corps in its service for the Government and Filipinos. END