2022 GAA signing delayed, but reenacted budget ruled out
THE government is still eyeing to sign the P5-trillion 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA) this week to avoid a reenacted budget next year.
This after Senate president Vicente “Tito” C. Sotto III announced on Monday that the Malacañang postponed the date for the signing of the said legislation.
In a televised interview last Monday, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) announced the 2022 GA A was initially scheduled to be signed on December 28, 2021.
But in a Viber message, Senator Christopher “Bong” T. Go said that schedule is still tentative and may still be reset to a new date.
But “per OES [Office of the Executive Secretary],” Go said Malacañang is still trying to have the 2022 national budget signed into law this week.
Acting Budget Secretary Tina Rose Marie L. Canda said the 2022 GAA is still going through a review process to determine if some of its provisions will be vetoed by President Duterte.
“For the items to be vetoed, I remember only one. But I don’t think I am in a position to discuss it at this point because it is still being reviewed,” Canda said.
As of press time, Palace officials have yet to announce the final date of the signing.
The government wants the 2022 GAA to be signed as soon as possible to provide an additional P4 billion assistance funds to local government units (LGU), which were affected by typhoon Odette (international name: Rai).
Canda gave assurances the government could still release calamity funds even with a reenacted budget.
However, a reenacted budget from this year will allow the government to only utilize P4.5 trillion worth of funds instead of the P5-trillion budget under the 2022 GAA.
Earlier, House Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera expressed confidence the final version of the proposed 2022 General Appropriations Act complies with the Constitution, thus reducing the chances of a veto.
“The GAB [General Appropriations Act] was prepared with the constitutionality of every provision in mind, and we are confident PRRD [Duterte] won’t veto its provisions, especially those related to Covid-19 response,” the Bagong Henerasyon representative said.
Herrera was a member of the House contingent to the bicameral conference committee that worked on the reconciled version of the national budget for 2022. She said the 2022 national budget tried to cover all of the requirements arising as part of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Next year’s national budget includes appropriations for benefits and compensation for health-care workers, hiring of human resource for health emergency, laboratory network commodities, free Covid-19 tests for jobseekers, procurement of vaccine booster shots, hiring and training of contact tracers, among others,” Herrera said. “Most, if not all of these, were not funded in the National Expenditure Program or the original budget document submitted by Malacañang to Congress,” she noted.