Villar bats for multi-year budget for food security/agri projects

Senate President Manny Villar proposed a multi-year budget approach for agriculture projects, particularly those that directly affects food security.

"To have predictability on sources of funds, multiyear budgeting should be applied on projects, irrigation systems, for example, which take years to finish," he said.

"The handicap of single-year funding for project is that it is prone to disruption endangering the country's food security," Villar said.

But because the Constitution calls for annual appropriations and forbids the legislation of multiyear national budgets, the compromise solution, Villar said, "is for the executive to convey to Congress the three-year financing requirements of agricultural projects."

"We must have a longer planning horizon because to work around 365-day cycles is too limiting and does not give us much elbow room," Villar said.

Villar urged the Executive to submit to Congress a "medium term expenditure framework "for the agriculture sector so we will know in advance what projects must be funded and should be guaranteed."

"This way, Congress will still come up with yearly budgets, but these are now yearly authorizations for projects and programs which are plotted out in advance, " he said.

"The idea is for the whole government to have strategic viewpoint instead of approaching a problem on yearly installments," he said.

"In the case of irrigation, dapat sabihin ng gobyerno 20 billion pesos ang kailangan. Kung ganoon ang requirement, pwedeng magtawaran na o P6 billion this year, P7 billion sa susunod. Hindi iyong pa-tingi-tingi na di mo alam kung ano ang light at the end of the tunnel. We must be aware of the big picture and the end result," Villar said.

"Kapag ganyan, may continuance sa budgeting. Hindi every year kapag gumawa ng budget parang back-to-zero ulit. Kung multiyear budgeting meron tayong institutional memory sa isang project. There's a follow through in each project," he said.