Govt steps up cost-cutting measures

In view of projected declines in revenue this fiscal year, the Department of Finance will now stop the granting of 100 percent travel advances to government employees and officials, minimize travel using local funds, and curtail salary advances.

Finance Secretary Fermin M. Atalig also said during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting that his office would curtail reprogramming of local funds and avoid using local revenue to reimburse federal accounts.

“We’ve go to do these to protect our local funds and control the bleeding of our general fund,” said Atalig.

He said that officials or employees do request for 100 percent travel advances, even if his department’s existing policy only allows for a maximum of 80 percent.

“Some people are asking for 100 percent but we can’t do that now. It’s a big pressure on the general fund,” he said.

He said his department would no longer grant salary advances to employees.

The only consideration that his office would extend is the early release of payroll check “for bona fide emergency cases.”

“If it’s emergency, then we would authorize the early release of payroll,” he said.

He said a salary advance is different from early release of payroll: with salary advance, the employee is getting paid for work that’s not yet rendered while an early release of payroll check is just issuing the check a day or two early.

He said his department will issue a memo related to this.

Further, Atalig called on department and agency heads to stop or minimize reallocation of local funds, “except for essential services.”

Likewise, he said his office would no longer favor the use of local funds to reimburse federal accounts.

“If federal fund is underway, let’s just wait for it. We want to prevent the use of our local funds. We want to protect the integrity of our general fund,” he said.

Atalig earlier said that Finance used to help PSS pay its federal-funded personnel by using local funds.

The government projects a 20-percent decline in annual revenue due to the ongoing downsizing within the garment industry. The government receives an average of $30 million from the user fee that it collects from garment exports every year.

Under the proposed fiscal year 2006 budget, the administration wants to address the projected revenue downturn by increasing the poker fee by $6,000 and reprogramming the Tobacco Control Funds to the general fund.

The administration said the government would only be able to generate some $206 million in FY 2006 under existing resources.

The government currently operates on a $213 million continuing resolution.