The Arroyo administration made “surprise” expenditures to its last day on June 30 that the government will likely breach the revised deficit ceiling of P178.5 billion for the first half of the year. Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad disclosed the information Tuesday after the weekly Cabinet meeting in Malaca?ang, saying the Budget and Management Department (DBM) is now looking at the “billions” of pesos the Arroyo administration spent in its last few days in office. It was “likely” that the government breached the January-June deficit ceiling set by former finance fecretary Margarito Teves, he said. “Well, you know, there were still surprises in the expenses, expenditures made up to the last month, up to the end of June, June 30,” Abad said when asked if there was a marked increase in spending during the last days of the Arroyo administration. Abad said the expenses included “congressional initiatives.” His department is now checking into which projects benefited from the last minute expenses of the Arroyo administration. At noon on June 30, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo turned over the reins of government to president elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. The Office of the President through the DBM approves the proposed recipients of lawmakers' Priority Development Assistance Fund, also known as pork barrel. Each senator gets P200 million in pork barrel a year, while congressmen get P70 million each.
