Senate, House ratify ₧4.1-trillion budget bill

“The early approval by the committee provides the President ample time to review the bill’s provisions and ensure that it is aligned with the priority programs of the administration.” —Cayetano

THE Senate and the House of Representatives separately ratified on Wednesday the final version of the P4.1-trillion national budget bill for 2020, paving the way for its early submission to Malacañang for signing into law by President Duterte before the year ends.

The ratification met a strict timeline that the two chambers had set, in a bid to avert the scenario of having the government operate under a reenacted budget, as what happened in the 2019 budget, when the four-month delay in approval dented economic growth.

The Senate ratified the bicameral conference committee version of the 2020 budget bill despite concerns aired by Sen.Panfilo Lacson over reported “insertions.”

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, however, said he was unaware of the alleged insertions and would look into it.

“I am not aware of it yet,” the Senate leader said, adding he expects to get more details from Lacson. “Siguro magkukuwento siya sa akin [I presume he’ll be filling me in on it].”

should he find basis in lacson’s concern, sotto indicated he would rather alert President Duterte and let Malacañang act on it so as not to delay the process and avert a reenacted 2019 budget by January.

“What will happen to us now, in order not to delay the budget, [is that] we will just inform the executive Department that this is the assessment of the senate,” sotto said in an interview on Wednesday.

“We will leave it to the discretion of the President again, as what happened the last time, but I cannot express my personal opinion until I get to know what it is and what is behind it,” sotto added. He was referring to the standoff between House and senate leaders which triggered the 2019 budget’s approval. since the alleged insertions by House leaders in that bill were made after both chambers had already ratified the bicameral conference committee version, sotto—with bipartisan advice from other senate leaders—then informed Duterte of their serious reservations about the illegality of such post-ratification insertions on the 2019 GAB.

As for the 2020 budget bill they ratified on Wednesday, sotto declined to divulge the tone of the letter he would send to President Duterte in case he finds lacson’s concerns valid, saying he just heard about the reported “last-minute insertions.”

“It depends on what it contains, the so-called P93 billion,” sotto said, adding: “It depends on what it contains, and what projects are identified there, on what departments they are placed.”

The senate President said he would also need to confer with the finance committee chairman, sen. Juan edgardo Angara, on the matter. “The only difference from then to now is that before, the problem that we encountered last year, it was after we ratified [the bicameral panel version] that they inserted. But now, it wasn’t ratified yet [when the alleged insertions were made]. so, in a sense, it’s still the output of the bicameral panel .... so in order for me to have a very intelligent opinion on it, I really have to look at it first and ask senator Angara for an explanation. He would know what it is all about,” sotto explained, in a mix of english and filipino.

‘Pork-free’ budget—Cayetano THe House also on Wednesday endorsed for Duterte’s signature on the proposed General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2020. It earlier ratified the bicameral conference committee report on 2020 appropriations, which was approved on the same day by members of the congressional bicameral conference committee.

speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, in a statement, reiterated that the bicameral-approved 2020 budget is “pork free.” He asserted, “We passed a budget with no pork, no parked funds, and no delays with full tranparency.”

Cayetano added: “While there is no perfect budget, both the senate and the House of representatives have identified areas where funds have been underutilized for various reasons.”

According to Cayetano, the adjustments made by both chambers will help the government implement its programs such as “Build, Build, Build” and social welfare programs in improving the quality of life of filipinos.

“The early approval by the committee provides the President ample time to review the bill’s provisions and ensure that it is aligned with the priority programs of the administration. We now leave it up to the departments, agencies, and the rest of the executive branch to fully implement the projects and programs with no corruption and with full transparency,” he said.

House Majority leader Martin romualdez denied allegations of “pork barrel” in the proposed budget.

lacson had said there are still “lump sums” and “vaguely described projects” in the bicamecal report.

lacson added that upon preliminary scrutiny of the last-minute insertions made by the House, it was discovered that the “source file” is the list of 1,253 budget items worth P83.219 billion that was allegedly used as the congressmen’s “source” of their “list” of 742 projects worth P16.345 billion that were inserted in the bicameral report.

Meanwhile, romualdez said

Congress is eyeing to submit the 2020 national budget to the President for signature on December 20.

earlier, Duterte had certified as urgent the 2020 budget in a bid to ensure its timely passage and prevent a repeat of the delay in the passage of the 2019 appropriations act.

The 2020 national budget of P4.1 trillion, which is cash-based, is 11.8 percent more than the 2019 budget and is equivalent to 19.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

social and economic services will receive the largest chunk of the 2020 budget.

Deficit-to-GDP

In 2020 national budget, the government maintains a manageable deficit of 3.2 percent of GDP to enable a declining debt burden.

The government revenue collections are expected to reach P3.536 trillion in 2020, or 12.3 percent higher than this year’s targeted level of P3.1 trillion. This will fund 83.9 percent of programmed disbursements for 2020.

Meanwhile, the total gross borrowings for 2020 amount to P1.4 trillion. With a borrowing mix policy of 75:25 in favor of domestic sources, P1.047 trillion will be sourced locally and the remaining P353.2 billion from abroad.

Of the total gross borrowings, P677.6 billion will finance the deficit, which is equivalent to 3.2 perent of GDP.