P4.1-trillion budget for 2020 submitted to Congress today

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will submit to the House of Representatives today the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 that was recently approved by President Duterte and his Cabinet.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante have expressed confidence that the spending bill will be passed before Congress goes on break on Oct. 4. 

“Our target is to immediately pass the national budget without delays. Our target is efficiency, quality and yet faster,” Cayetano said, expecting acting Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado to submit the National Expenditure Program (NEP). 

Romualdez said the “timely passage of the national budget and other priority measures will further propel the country’s economic growth.”

Davao Rep. Isidro Ungab, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, said they will pass the General Appropriations Bill on third and final reading before Oct. 4, the start of 18th Congress’ first congressional break.

Ungab said his panel will conduct hearings on the national budget from Monday to Friday, starting on Aug. 22, to ensure its timely passage.

“We will do our best to approve the budget on time and exercise our constitutional duty to scrutinize the budget to make sure that every peso that we appropriate will contribute to the overall growth and development of the country,” Ungab said.

He said the appropriations committee hopes to finish the budget hearings by the second week of September and start plenary deliberations as soon as the panel approves its committee report.

The budget hearings will kick off on Thursday with a briefing of the Development Budget Coordination Committee, the inter-agency body that determines the overall economic targets, expenditure levels and budget of the government.

The DBCC is composed of the DBM, National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Finance and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

On Aug. 23, the Ungab committee will review the budget proposals of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Despite the early submission of the NEP, the government was forced to operate on a reenacted budget due to the impasse on the 2019 General Appropriations Act that stemmed from lawmakers’ debate over supposed insertions.

Malacañang has since appealed to Congress for the timely passage of the 2020 national budget.

The total proposed national budget for 2020 at P4.1 trillion is 9.1 percent higher, or P343 billion more than the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019.

The P4.1-trillion cash-based budget for 2020 is equivalent to 19.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, which amounts to P21.17 trillion.