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Finance: Reprogrammed funds for CUC still intact
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Posted on Aug 16 2005
Finance Secretary Fermin M. Atalig said that the administration’s reprogrammed money for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. remains unspent, noting that it would only be tapped in extreme situations, such as the agency’s failure to buy fuel using its own resources.
In particular, Atalig said that the $5.1 million reprogrammed fund is in a reserve account.
“It’s set aside for emergency. We’ve not released those funds. We just set it aside for CUC’s emergency needs,” said Atalig in an interview yesterday.
Last month, Gov. Juan N. Babauta authorized the reprogramming of various project funds totaling $5.1 million to the CUC Emergency Fuel Contingency Fund.
These include $1.5 million from the Tobacco Control Fund; $146,766 from the Developer’s Tax; $1.3 from Active Revolving Accounts; $991,575 from old remaining budgets; $387,787 from the Tobacco Settlement; and $815,000 from others.
The opposition in the House of Representatives, however, has questioned the legality of this action. The House leadership said it only supports the governor’s legal reprogramming of public funds for CUC and “strongly disapproves of any illegal reprogramming of public funds.” It said the governor should not take money from essential services such as health programs.
For his part, Atalig noted that the entire Legislature—through a resolution—had given the governor 100 percent reprogramming authority to tap all funds to address the CUC crisis.
“They are questioning the legality of the payments to CUC but we are in an emergency,” he said. He said that while the affected programs are also important, “somebody has to make a decision.”
“The governor obviously made the decision. Power is an urgent concern,” Atalig said.
The Finance secretary said the affected accounts would be replenished in the next fiscal year. “It’s a continuous collection effort. Next year, it can be replenished.”
At present, the government has paid the CUC $6.4 million more than the appropriated amount of $5 million. Atalig had reported that the government paid CUC a total of $11.4 million for fiscal year 2005. This extra payment, he said, is needed amid the soaring fuel prices.
CUC reportedly consumes 3 million gallons of fuel a month.
