BBL BLOCK GRANT, aka, 70 BILLION ANNUAL BBL BUDGET . A lot of questions
have been generated by the 70 billion annual budget in the proposed
Bangsamoro Basic Law. Actually, in the proposed BBL, there's no mention
of exact amount of 70 billion annually. What's mentioned is a BLOCK
GRANT specially discussed in Art. XII, Secs. 15 to 21 of the BBL. The
said sections say that the BLOCK GRANT is : “…no case to be less than
the last budget received by the ARMM immediately before the establishment
of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority” (Sec. 15). Then, Section 16
speaks of the "Formula of the Block Grant. – For the budget year
immediately following the year this Act takes effect, the amount of the
block grant shall be equivalent to four per cent (4%) of the net
national internal revenue collection of the Bureau of Internal Revenue
less the internal revenue allotment of local government units."
As a taxpayer, and as one Mindanawon who's also been conscientiously supportive of the peace process, maybe just to assuage all the apprehensions, doubts, and fears of all parties concerned, and also in the name of TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY, and SOCIAL JUSTICE, will it be too much if I'd request a FULL-BLOWN ITEMIZED BUDGET PROPOSAL of the said Block Grant? Anyway, this will also eventually be REQUIRED if indeed the Bangsamoro Basic Law will be passed, as required of ALL GOVERNMENT BODIES. With the ITEMIZED BUDGET, we taxpayers will at least, via paper, be assured that we know where our hard-earned taxes will go. Just saying, because as of the moment, without the said ITEMIZED BUDGET, what the BBL practically provides is for the central government to issue a check, then what happens to that will as if be a matter of conjectures. What I don't want to happen is to have a REPEAT of the NAPOLES-SCAM, DAP brouhaha, etc. via the BBL-BLOCK GRANT. At least if such ITEMIZED BUDGET be on paper NOW, both parties, government and MILF, are held ACCOUNTABLE, TRANSPARENT, and SOCIALLY JUST re this fiscal provision of the BBL.
As a taxpayer, and as one Mindanawon who's also been conscientiously supportive of the peace process, maybe just to assuage all the apprehensions, doubts, and fears of all parties concerned, and also in the name of TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY, and SOCIAL JUSTICE, will it be too much if I'd request a FULL-BLOWN ITEMIZED BUDGET PROPOSAL of the said Block Grant? Anyway, this will also eventually be REQUIRED if indeed the Bangsamoro Basic Law will be passed, as required of ALL GOVERNMENT BODIES. With the ITEMIZED BUDGET, we taxpayers will at least, via paper, be assured that we know where our hard-earned taxes will go. Just saying, because as of the moment, without the said ITEMIZED BUDGET, what the BBL practically provides is for the central government to issue a check, then what happens to that will as if be a matter of conjectures. What I don't want to happen is to have a REPEAT of the NAPOLES-SCAM, DAP brouhaha, etc. via the BBL-BLOCK GRANT. At least if such ITEMIZED BUDGET be on paper NOW, both parties, government and MILF, are held ACCOUNTABLE, TRANSPARENT, and SOCIALLY JUST re this fiscal provision of the BBL.
