Aquino’s good management style

We respect the views of  Sen. Sergio R. Osmeña III on the recent developments in the energy sector ( “Aquino a poor manager—Serge,” Front Page, 3/14/14). Rest assured, the Aquino administration takes cognizance of the urgency of the situation. However, the good senator’s description of President Aquino as an “awful manager” is a sweeping generalization, given that it was made on the basis of this issue alone.

On the contrary, under the President’s leadership the country has accomplished things not enjoyed for so long. His unique management style has led to government 1) spending within its means, 2) investing in the right priorities and 3) installing reforms for measurable results.

Spending within our means. Last year, our country got investment grade credit ratings from the top raters—due to President Aquino’s success in containing the deficit (from 3.5 percent of GDP in 2010 to 1.4 percent in 2013) and the debt stock (from 54.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 49.2 percent in 2013). And the Bureau of Internal Revenue was able to increase tax collections by 15 percent last year, without the need to enact new taxes except the Sin Tax Reform; and the Bureau of Customs to pursue unprecedented reforms.

Investing in the right priorities. We have been able to reshape the national budget. Ten years ago, interest payments ate up the largest slice of the budget (30 percent), at the expense of social and economic services (28.9 percent and 19.4 percent). Also, we were able to increase the share of social and economic services to 37.2 percent and 26.2 percent; while interest payments have dwindled to 15.6 percent.

Before, scarce resources were spread too thinly and wasted on unimportant and leakage-ridden programs. The President has led his Cabinet to ensure that the

annual budget is focused on key effective programs, such as: Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, now with P62.6 billion covering 4.3 million households and 4.3 million high school students; education, whose budget has increased by an average of 14 percent annually since 2010, enabling the closure of lingering classroom and teacher supply gaps; health, whose budget has increased by about 32 percent annually since 2010, enabling the provision of health insurance to 14.7 million poor and near-poor households; infrastructure, where we are spending 3 percent of GDP this year, toward the ideal level of  5 percent by 2016.

Pursuing reforms for measurable results, the President has been persistent in improving the speed and quality of public service delivery; pursued the institutionalization of a harmonized Results-Based Performance Management System and a Performance-Based Incentive System to reward performers in the bureaucracy; and created the Office of the Cabinet Secretary to keep close tabs on each department’s performance in fulfilling his priority programs. On the budget side, he enabled the rollout of key reforms to ensure that each peso spent has a result-such as Performance Informed Budgeting, where the budget

itself now clearly links resources to performance targets.

The President’s commitment to ensuring that each peso spent counts has greatly contributed to our economy’s stellar growth (7.2 percent in 2013, second only to China) and improved competitiveness (from 75th in 2009 to 59th in 2013 in the Global Competitiveness Index).

These unprecedented gains were made possible because of President Aquino’s leadership and unique management style: one of rigor, of attention to detail, of focus on measurable performance for each investment, and, most important, of deep commitment to deliver on his social contract with the people.

—FLORENCIO B. ABAD,

secretary,

Department of Budget

and Management