Senate eyes 2019 budget passage in 6 days

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate yesterday started plenary debates on the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget with the daunting task of approving it in six days or before Congress goes on a break next week.

Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the finance committee, sponsored the “cash-based” national appropriations and sought their immediate passage, after which senators commenced deliberations, starting with the proposed budget of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Legarda said the Duterte administration has described the budget as a measure that will support strong, sustainable and equitable growth to make life more comfortable for Filipinos while minimizing underspending.

The administration has embarked on a massive public infrastructure program and strengthened human capital development as the means to pursue economic growth, from 6.5-7 percent in 2018 to 7-8 percent in 2022, and to reduce poverty from 21.6 percent in 2015 to 14 percent in 2022, according to the senator.

“To realize this vision, it needs to ramp up spending and would need to reform the budget system to ensure that every peso from the people’s taxes go back to them through actual delivery of services and programs,” she said.

The budget is P10 billion lower than the 2018 General Appropriations Act since it limits new appropriations to include only programs that are ready for implementation and completion within the budget year under the cash-based system.

The highest allocation by sector is still for social services at 36.7 percent of the budget, followed by economic services at 28.4 percent, general public service at 18.9 percent, debt burden at 11 percent and defense at five percent.

Senators went into a closed-door caucus on Monday after Sen. Panfilo Lacson manifested on the floor that the proposed timetable for the passage of the budget was impossible to meet.

He said the Senate should rethink its position on the matter after Malacañang appealed to the chamber last week to have the budget approved soonest so that President Duterte can sign it into law before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto cited “gaps” in the proposed budget that did not take into account new laws that need funding but can be addressed in a transparent and legal way.

“No one is to be blamed for the oversight, as these unfunded mandates arose from laws passed after the 2019 national budget has been prepared in the executive branch,” Recto said.

In addition to new laws, there is the Supreme Court ruling on the Internal Revenue Allotment case, which now adds billions in revenue plowbacks to local governments, according to Recto.

“Nature also contributed to the need to recast portions of the budget. The damage caused by Ompong, to cite just one typhoon, will cost billions to repair and was impossible to forecast,” he said.

Recto cited the Rice Tariffication Bill, the Coconut Levy Fund Bill and the Universal Health Care Bill – all of which are expected to be signed into law but were not taken into account by the proposed budget.

“The least the Senate can do, however, is to put some money, rechanneled from low-priority and postponable expenditures, into these laws and programs so they can qualify for augmentation in a manner compliant with established rules. A peso is better than zero,” Recto said. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Delon Porcalla