Treasury seeks higher budget to upgrade auction facilities

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of the Treasury is seeking an 82.32% increase in its budget to upgrade the facilities it uses for its auctions. It is seeking approval from Congress for a total outlay of P657.46 million next year from P360.61 million this year. National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan told the House appropriations committee last Tuesday the Treasury wants to upgrade the electronic system used in its auctions and in the registration of government securities. It also wants to interconnect all its regional offices so it gets an up-to-date and accurate account of government funds it holds in its vaults. "This is for the modernization of the Bureau of the Treasury nationwide in improving the existing Automated Debt Auction Processing System (ADAPS) and Registry of Scripless Securities (RoSS)," Mr. Tan said. "At the same time, we are going to interconnect regional offices so cash management and reconciliation of bank deposits can be immediately undertaken so we know how much cash we have. This is a nationwide effort involving our 77 provincial offices and the main office in Manila." Through the ADAPS, the National Government auctions government securities to a network of eligible dealers linked to the Treasury through the Bridge Information Systems (BIS). Bids are received within seconds and arrayed in the terminals of the Treasury. After the cut-off time of 1:00 p.m. the bids are viewed by the auction committee, which then decides on the award. The award is keyed-back to the terminals of the dealers. Two days after the auction, the securities are credited to the securities principal accounts of the dealers in the RoSS. At the same time, their demand deposit accounts at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas are debited in favor of the Treasurer of the Philippines. RoSS is the official registry of ownership or interest in Treasury bills and bonds. This paperless system was introduced in 1996 to address risks in the paper-based system. Upon award of government securities at the auction, the securities awarded are electronically downloaded to the RoSS. The amount Treasury wants for 2009 represents only 5.23% of the total amount the whole Finance department is seeking. For next year, Finance wants an 80.23% increase in its budget at P12.58 billion from P6.98 billion at present, with the revenue generating agencies Bureau of Customs and the Treasury seeking substantial increments. Based on a presentation to the appropriations committee, Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said Customs wants 208.73% more than its P1.48-billion budget this year at P4.57 billion. "The BoC will use P3.16 billion as payment for the services of Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS)," he said. In April 2008, SGS said the government agreed to pay 150 million Swiss francs, or P6.2 billion, in two equal installments this year and 2009 for payment of pre-shipment inspection services rendered in 2002. Customs’ budget corners 36.49% of the Finance department’s total 2009 proposed outlay but is second only to the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) proposal, which corners the bulk at 50.46%. The BIR is asking for P6.35 billion next year from P4.27 billion this year. The BIR is implementing information technology projects such as Reconciliation of Listings for Enforcement (RELIEF) to match sales or purchases with tax return data; tax reconciliation system to match data of withholding agents with data of income recipients; and human resource information system to allow data capture and update of information about human resources of BIR. The revenue watch dashboard project is a web-based online facility that allows monitoring of revenue collections versus target at all levels of the BIR. The local government unit (LGU) revenue assurance system project is a web-enabled tool that identifies discrepancies between LGU and BIR registration and revenue information. — Ruby Anne M. Rubio, BusinessWorld