MANILA — Two senators on Tuesday called on their colleagues in the House of Representatives (HoR) to resume deliberations on the proposed PHP3.757 trillion cash-based national budget for 2019, noting that the Congress should not allow a reenacted budget during election year.
“I urge both houses of Congress to resume deliberations of the budget because it is our constitutional duty to enact an annual budget,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said in a press statement.
“We cannot and we should not allow a reenacted budget, most particularly in an election year,” he added, saying the suspension of deliberations is “foolish and counter-productive.”
Drilon said the suspension of deliberations would also be “detrimental” to the economy since government expenditure accounts for about 20 percent of the economy.
He said it may also affect the implementation of crucial laws such as the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
“We will not be able to give to the Bangsamoro government additional funding necessary for its development, including the block grant amounting to approximately PHP60 billion to PHP 70 billion,” Drilon said.
According to Drilon, a reenacted budget will also be detrimental to government employees who are set to receive their fourth tranche of salary increase next year.
“If we have a reenacted budget, then goodbye to the salary increase for teachers, nurses, and the rest of the government workforce,” Drilon said.
Moreover, he said it would “reflect badly” on President Rodrigo R. Duterte for being unable to pass his own budget despite having a super majority in Congress.
Don’t delay
Senator Risa Hontiveros, like Drilon, appealed to House leaders to resume deliberations, noting that their concerns can be addressed without delaying the passage of next year’s budget.
“Let us use the budget process to address the strategic issues of procurement and the general competency of the bureacracy in terms of planning and execution in order to design good policies for efficient delivery,” Hontiveros said in a press statement.
“The people’s budget must be spared from avoidable fiscal conflicts,” she added, noting that the suspension of budget deliberations would allow the Executive to “abuse the nation’s coffers.”
Hontiveros said a reenacted budget “will reenact ‘Arroyonomics’ infamous for playing fast and loose with public funds.”
She recalled that during the nine-year term of former President and now Pampanga Second District Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the national government budget was reenacted several times.
“This allowed the Arroyo government to have the full discretion in the disbursement and realignment of public funds to promote its political interests,” Hontiveros said.
On Saturday, House appropriations committee chairman Karlo Nograles said the House decided to suspend all budget briefings amid lawmakers’ opposition to the proposed cash-based budgeting system in favor of the obligation-based appropriations.
In an annual cash-based budget, contracts intended to be implemented for the fiscal year should be fully delivered by the end of the year.
On the other hand, the multi-year obligation-based budgeting system allows the government to enter into a contract or “obligate funds” sans the actual delivery of goods and services within the year.
On Monday, Malacañang stood pat in their preference for cash-based budgeting.
“I’ve only been in contact this morning with (Budget) Secretary (Benjamin) Diokno and (Finance) Secretary (Carlos) Dominguez and they were united in saying that we are not daunted by the possibility of a reenacted budget because that means it’s Executive that will choose which projects will be implemented,” Roque said.
“In other words, we’re not about to give in. The cash transaction will ensure that only those projects that can actually be implemented will be included in the budget,” he added. (Azer Parrocha/PNA)
