PR
House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Saturday pledged that the House of Representatives will conduct transparent budget hearings and will come up with a good national budget “in record time.”
This as the House of Representatives is set to start scrutinizing the proposed P4.5-trillion 2021 national budget this week.
“We will work together diligently with the Senate, our counterparts, and with all the sectors. We invite media to scrutinize every part of the budget, and we will work with the Executive branch to come up with a very, very good budget in 2021,” Cayetano said in a statement.
The initial hearing on Friday, September 4, will focus on the state of the economy and on the macro-economic assumptions the administration used in putting together the budget proposal.
Invited to the hearing at the plenary hall are members of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), namely Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, acting Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno.
Cayetano said the House will try to finish its scrutiny and approval of the budget by the end of next month.
“It’s a very ambitious schedule to send it right away to the Senate, because we hope that, for the first time in history, if I’m not mistaken, we can sign the budget maybe late November or mid-November as a sign of unity by our country,” he added.
The spending program for this year was signed by the President on January 6, a week after the government operated on the reenacted 2019 budget.
“We will be very transparent. All the members of the opposition in the House, we will give you first a copy of the budget and listen to you first and give you more time so this budget will be a product of the whole of Congress, the whole of the representations of the Filipino people, not only of the administration,” Cayetano said.
He said aside from COVID-19 response funds, the national budget should continue funding important infrastructure the nation needs during the pandemic and in the post-pandemic period.
“There are important infrastructure we have to keep on building. Number one is mass transportation. Second is digital infrastructure — all of us want better internet, better connection. Third is health-related infrastructure — hospitals, health centers. (Then) infrastructure for tourism, also for agriculture,” he added.
After the DBCC discussions, the House will hear on September 7 the proposed budgets for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), and Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corporation (PAGCOR).
On September 8, it will be the turn of the Department of National Defense (DND), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to face the House.
September 9 will see the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) defending their respective budget proposals.
On deck for September 10 are the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Tourism (DOT), and Department of Agriculture (DA).
The budgets of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will be tackled on September 11.
The Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), and Department of Health (DOH) are scheduled for September 14, while the Office of the President (OP), Office of the Vice President (OVP), Department of Transportation (DOTr), and Department of Education (DepEd) are set for September 15.
