No delays in 2020 budget — Senate

After the House of the Representatives passed the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), the Senate said they are “on-track” in passing the fiscal plan within this year.

To prevent the recurrence of the budget fiasco last year, Senate Finance committee chairman Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said they will incorporate the committee reports of the budget briefings of each department and different government agencies before the chamber adjourns its session on 5 October.

Angara said in a text message that the 2020 GAB will be passed in no specific date, unlike the self-imposed deadline of the House of Representatives, but assured that it will be finished before the year-end.

This was reiterated after Angara said last Thursday that the subcommittees of the Senate Finance panel have already commenced the deliberation of the fiscal plan for each agency.

“Before we (take our) break, I’d ask the vice-chairs to finish their hearings and to submit their reports to incorporate (the final) committee report. So, we are on track for passage this year,” Angara said.

Just like the timeline they follow in the previous Congress, Senate President Vicente Sotto III does not want to push the chamber to mark a specific date on the calendar for the budget’s approval.