The Senate will officially begin today plenary debates on the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020.
Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, finance committee chair, announced this yesterday, as he guaranteed that the Senate is on track to pass the budget measure based on their timetable.
Angara is scheduled to sponsor the proposed 2020 national spending plan on Nov. 11.
Angara’s panel has earlier vowed to get the General Appropriations Bill on President Duterte’s desk by middle of December or the third week at the latest, for his immediate approval and signature.
The senator reiterated anew it is necessary to pass the 2020 national budget on time to prevent a reenacted budget which happened this year due to the delay in the approval of the 2019 General Appropriations Act.
“So critical is the GAA, in fact, that because we failed to pass it on time during the previous budget cycle, the country paid the price. One adverse impact was a slower GDP growth rate in the first half of the year,” Angara said.
The delay in the passage of the national budget also affected the construction and repairs of thousands of classrooms as well as the payment of tuition of thousands of government scholars nationwide.
Angara also noted the opportunity losses in job creation, public administration and defense, wholesale and retail trade, land transport, and education sectors as a result of the government working on a reenacted 2019 budget for the first four months of the year. (Hannah Torregoza)
