The Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) has challenged President Arroyo to release the government’s P140-billion overall savings and use the same for social development programs before her term ends.

"Billions of pesos of people's money were either impounded or realigned and transferred to overall savings under her term. This has caused delay and non-implementation of critical socio-economic programs which translated to millions of Filipinos plunging below the poverty line with no job, no education, no healthcare and no food on their tables," said former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines (SWP), which leads the ABI.

"The release of these overall savings should be PGMA's legacy to the Filipino people before her term as President ends," she added.

Briones asserted that based on official government reports, a total of P140.668 billion out of the P1.315- trillion budget was reported as overall savings. Data showed that these are not accumulated through efficient utilization but rather through impoundment or non-release of appropriated amounts to various departments.

Briones explained that the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for fiscal year (FY) 2010 reports that the overall savings for FY 2008 was P140.668 billion.

Pooled savings or total transfers from budgets of departments amounted to P178.728 billion while total transfers to budget of departments amounted to P38.059 billion. This yielded a net overall savings of P140 billion.

"This amount of overall savings is almost P34 billion more than the FY 2007 Overall Savings of P106.108 billion. It is also 13.19 percent of total New Appropriations of 2008 General Appropriations Act (GAA) which amounts to P1.066 trillion. Moreover, it is 140 times more than the Overall Savings in FY 2003 of P1.006 billion," said Briones.

"The President owes it to the people to account for these savings and immediately release these.

"Government should be transparent in handling people's money and should stop saying that the savings are 'only amounts in paper,'" said Briones.

"The budget is listed in paper but this is converted into cash once the President orders its utilization.

Therefore, she should be able to order the immediate release of these savings for programs for more than 3.7 million hungry Filipino families," she explained.