Delayed DBM, BTr expenditures report

I WOULD like to ask why the Department of Budget and Management (and collaterally, the Bureau of Treasury [BTr], which relies on DBM reports on expenditures) has failed to publish the expenditures of the national government for any of the past months of 2015. In the past, the DBM or the BTr would release such data before the 10th day of the second month following the month reported on. In short, they should have

already reported data up to April 2015.

Is the transparency and accountability which this administration boasts about selective?

Agencies like the National Statistics Office, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, among other government institutions, have a predefined schedule for the release of their data, and they do so punctually. Inflation figures, for example, are released by the NSO on the the fifth day of the subsequent month. Why can’t the DBM do it as well? Government spending and deficits/surpluses are important for economic analysts.

—VICTOR A. ABOLA,

vabola@gmail.com