What is Augmentation?

Augmentation is the act of the constitutional officers authorized to use current year savings in their respective appropriations to cover actual current year deficiencies in any existing item of appropriation within their respective offices. (Section 76, General Provisions, FY 2022 General Appropriations Act)

In the above definition, there are four (4) important things to note in order to understand what an augmentation is:

1. Who are authorized to augment;
2. Use of Savings (to be discussed in a separate post);
3. Occurence of a deficiency; and
4. What are items of appropriations?

Who are authorized to augment?

Neither Government Accountants, Budget Officers, nor the heads of agencies, not even auditors, are authorized to augment the budget of their agencies.

Only the following constitutional officers are authorized to augment their respective budgets: (Item 5.2, NBC 587, s. 2022)

• The President of the Phillipines for the Departments/Agencies under the Executive Branch;
• The Senate President and the Speaker of the House for the Congress of the Philippines;
• The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for the Judiciary; and
• The Heads of Constitutional Offices – Commission on Audit (COA), Commission on Elections (COMELEC), and Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Occurence of a deficiency:

It is important to note that augmentation is only allowed when there is a deficiency in the budget of the offices under each of aforesaid constitutional officers.

A deficiency in an item of appropriation may result from:

(a) Unforeseen modifications of adjustments in the program, activity or project; or

(b) Re-assessment in the use, prioritization and/or distribution of resources.

What is an item of appropriation?

An item of appropriation pertains to the amount appropriated for a program, activity or project authorized in the GAA.

These items of appropriations may include payment for personnel services (which, by the way, was misspelled in the video, apologies), maintenance and other operating expenses, financial expenses, and/or capital outlays.

All or any of these items of appropriations are essential components of the programs, projects, or activities of the Philippine government.

Sources:

• General Provisions, FY 2022 General Appropriations Act
• National Budget Circular No. 587 – Fund Release Guidelines for FY 2022
• Oxford Dictionary – Augment

Is our explanation on Augmentation clear?

Please let us know in the comment section if you need further explanations on what augmentation is all about. Or, if you are knowledgeable on the topic, we would appreciate it so much if you will help us expound this topic further. Thank you.