He was supposed to defend President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III’s claims that the government is almost bankrupt but a senior budget official ended up clearing the Arroyo government of any alleged irregular spending of the 2010 national budget.

Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos said there was nothing anomalous with the use of the bulk of the P1.54 trillion national budget of the year by the past government.

Relampagos, however, admitted that the Arroyo government should have been “more prudent” and calibrated in its expenditures to ease the country's budget deficit in the first half of the year.

“Legally there is none. It may just be that if you notice, we have to frontload releases on the first half of the year. That’s part of the programs to release it. We just take advantag of the weather, especially for the infrastructure projects. So there’s nothing illegal because everything is within the authority granted by Congress to the executive branch for the year,” he said in a news conference in the Palace.

Relampagos, a career official, said of the P1.54 trillion national budget, P942 billion has been lawfully released by the budget department as of June 30.

So far, there is still an “unreleased” appropriation of P591.4 billion from the 2010 budget, most of which have been set aside for internal revenue allotment, debt payments, and salaries of government workers. “All within appropriation,” Relampagos said.

Of the P591.4 billion left in the national coffers, P313 billion has been automatically appropriated for debt payments, P278 billion for salaries of government workers, internal revenue allotment, and remaining budget for state agencies. The remaining balance from these appropriations mandated by law is P100 billion that could be freely used by the new President, he added.

“This P100 billion, the President may declare savings and he can use that to augment the priority programs that he laid out for the year and the coming years,” said Relampagos who was invited by Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda to join a press conference in the Palace to explain the alleged budget anomalies committed by the previous administration.

Relampagos, however declined to say if the P100 billion is insufficient budget for the Aquino leadership, saying this would depend on the priority programs planned for the rest of the year. He also frowned on proposals to seek a supplemental budget in a bid to rein in the budget deficit.

In his State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, the President claimed that only P100 billion was left of the P1.54 trillion-national budget for the year. He said government expenditure exceeded revenues with deficit swelling to P196.7 billion.

“Where did the funds go?” he asked, alluding that the past government has squandered the most of the national budget. Aquino, however, did not mention that the government has actually P591 billion.

The supposed fiscal irresponsibility of the past government, however, began when it apparently went on deficit spending.

Relampagos pointed out that there was “an imbalance in the pattern of the spending” of the 2010 national budget by the previous administration.

He said the past government continued to spend even though the budget deficit was overshot by P51 billion in the first six months of 2010. The revenue shortfall was pegged at P23 billion while the government went beyond spending by P27 billion.

“The more important thing there is whether it was justified given the fiscal situation at that time. You have to calibrate your releases against the fiscal situation. I mean, if you think revenues are not forthcoming, if you cannot support the allotment that you issued, then you should not issue after spending the authorization than the inflow of revenue,” he said.

Lacierda, meantime, explained that there was no attempt by the President to mislead the public about the country's shaky government finances.

He said the past government was “fiscally irresponsible” when expenditures exceeded government revenues. “That's why we incurred a hudge budget deficit,” he added.