MANILA — Malacañang on Monday expressed alarm over the decision of the House of Representatives (HoR) to suspend deliberations on the proposed PHP3.757 trillion cash-based national budget for 2019, but stressed that it was not afraid of having a reenacted budget.
On Saturday, House appropriations committee chairman Karlo Nograles said the House decided to suspend all budget briefings amid lawmakers’ opposition to the new cash-based budgeting system proposed by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Nograles said lawmakers wanted to revert to the obligation-based budget system.
“We’re alarmed. Sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon, ‘yung House po na may supermajority na supposedly administration, e sila po yung humaharang sa budget (For the first time, the House with the administration’s supermajority is blocking the budget), Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.
“We are completely shocked at the resistance of the House because we were confident that when there was a change in leadership, we would still deal with very close allies,” he added.
Roque, however, said the Palace, as well as Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, remain firm in their preference for cash-based budgeting.
“I’ve only been in contact this morning with Secretary Diokno and Secretary 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.
Roque described cash-based budgeting as “a very good solution to the problem of under-spending.”
“We agreed on cash budget for 2018 in the sense that we all knew, I was then a part of Congress, that implementation of projects would have to be only one year. We don’t understand why there’s been a change of heart this year around. Because last year they agreed that project implementation will be only for one year and not two years as it was in the past,” Roque said.
Roque also expressed hope that Congress would soon “cooperate” by resuming deliberations otherwise, they will be at the losing end.
“The ball is in the hands of our allies in Congress but we’re not blinking, we’re not scared of a reenacted budget. The Congressmen better ask themselves what will happen to their pet projects because under reenacted budget, it is Malacañang that will determine which budgets will be implemented. I don’t think they will want that,” Roque said.
“We expect the usual cooperation from Congress soon because together we will provide the needs of our constituents,” he added.
Roque, meanwhile, allayed fears that cash-based budgeting will affect the government’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.
“Wala pong epekto yan sa ‘Build, Build, Build’ so hindi po talaga kami convinced para sila ay tumutol (That won’t affect Build, ‘Build, Build’ so we’re really not convinced why they are against it),” Roque said. (Azer Parrocha/PNA)
