Following the Cabinet’s prodding, the Senate will now rush on passing the P3.757-trillion proposed 2019 budget by December 12 to avoid a reenacted budget for next year.
The Upper Chamber is expected to focus on the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) in the coming days after its leaders decided to heed the Executive Branch’s appeal to have the priority measure approved in Congress and signed by President Duterte before the year ends.
Senate leaders on Wednesday afternoon met Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno who had relayed the Executive Branch’s apprehension over the prospects of a reenacted 2018 budget for next year.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senate Finance Committee chair Sen. Loren Legarda were in the meeting.
Senators earlier agreed to take their time in scrutinizing the GAB following the delay in its approval in the House of Representatives.
In its initial timetable, the Senate would pass the GAB on final in late January, while its targeted signing into law would be on February. Thus, the government would have to operate with the same funding under the approved 2018 budget for the first few weeks of 2019.
But Diokno said the Senate’s timetable would be dangerous for the government’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.
The implementation of the program would be delayed for at least five months should the Senate’s schedule be followed, Diokno told Senate reporters after their meeting.
He said a reenacted budget would halt the release of about P1-trillion fund for new infrastructure projects. He also noted the upcoming election ban from March next year.
Locally-funded projects would mostly “suffer” with such scenario, Diokno said. He, however, reiterated that there were no “pork barrel” insertions for congressmen and senators in the GAB.
In an interview in the morning prior to the meeting with Diokno, Sotto remained cold over the possibility of the Senate finishing its deliberations on the 2019 budget within the year.
Later, Sotto said they now see that GAB’s approval before the yearend. President Duterte may be able to sign the 2019 budget by December 31, he noted.
Zubiri told reporters that they are looking into compressing the budget debates within one week by holding marathon sessions from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., starting December 4, until they approve the GAB on December 12.
Zubiri also expected that the unofficial hearings conducted by the Finance committee and subcommittees would help speed up the plenary deliberations on the 2019 national budget.
The Majority Leader said they would propose that one day be allotted for the bicameral conference committee, so that both houses of Congress could ratify the final GAB version before they adjourn sessions for the holidays on December 15.
Zubiri, however, said that he has yet to talk to his colleagues on whether or not to heed the Cabinet’s appeal and follow the new schedule. Earlier, he said the Senate would not cram on the 2019 budget due to the Lower House’s delay.
Recto, for his part, said that while one week is not enough to properly scrutinize the budget, conceded that several government projects, and the country’s economy, would be affected should they fail to approve the budget within the year.
Recto hopes to focus on the P50-billion alleged insertions made by the House of Representatives in the GAB.
Legarda, who will sponsor the GAB in Senate, said she also wants to avoid a reenacted budget and assured that she will work even with the extended sessions.
“There’s the timeline we are following and trying the best of our ability to abide with the timeline. And if we pass the budget by January, to be signed by January or Febraury, the re-enactment will be just one month but we will try whatever is physically feasible as long as there is no physical impossibility,” she told reporters.
Legarda said she hopes that their fellow senators will agree with the approval of the 2019 budget in December. (Vanne Terrazola)
