Senate has the floor
The 2021 budget now becomes crucial as current data shows infections are leveling off, signaling the start of the long-awaited recovery period.
Investors who are sensitive to forces that affect the market have been flocking to the stock exchange mainly on their expectations that the coronavirus disease 2019 curve has flattened.
Bickering that some senators are now trying to introduce in the hunt for what they assert as pork barrel, which nonetheless are likely political play, would not get in the way of the early approval of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
The House of Representatives did its part by passing the measure within the designated period, and a body it formed is making final touches to it.
Last week, the House of Representatives under new Speaker Lord Allan Velasco approved on third and final reading House Bill 7727, or the 2021 GAB, with 267 affirmative votes, six negative votes and no abstention during a special session from 13 to 16 October that President Rodrigo Duterte called.
A reenacted budget loomed large after former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano suspended sessions following a premature approval of the bill that ticked off Mr. Duterte, warning that he would take action if the House fails to settle a leadership friction.
The House edition of the GAB will be delivered to the Senate on Wednesday, well within the time frame needed by the Chamber to complete deliberations on the bill.
The P4.5 trillion allocation for next year contains more of the assistance for those afflicted by the virus, the crucial fund for the vaccine and the targeted amounts to start an economic reboot.
To achieve maximum effect on the economy, the bulk of the budget will have to be disbursed at the start of the year to frontload most of the projects.
For this to happen, the appropriations measure will have to be submitted to the Office of the President earlier than the second week of December.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the time frame given will allow President Rodrigo Duterte ample time to review the final version of the budget and provide him the space to veto questionable allocations.
The identification of insertions and realignments is best handed to the President since he and officials of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), where the National Expenditure Program (NEP) or the budget’s raw copy originated, would easily spot anomalies.
“It’s not that easy to review the budget because this is the only time the President can use his power of ‘line-veto’... that’s why the budget submission should be made earlier because the process of reviewing it entails a line by line analysis,” Roque said.
While fear of a reenacted budget was soothed by the swift review and approval of the House of Representatives, fears were revived with the allegations of hundreds of billions of pesos worth of pork barrel claimed by senators who based their assumption on items in the NEP.
Roque said the country can’t afford a reenacted 2020 expenditure plan since it was created when the malaise of the global pandemic had yet to be felt.
It would be ideal that the measure is in the hands of the President by late November based on the schedule.
It is time for the Senate to step up to the plate and ensure that grand pursuits for 2022 do not get into the way of the national budget, which is a measure that spells the difference between life and death to many Filipinos suffering under the coronavirus era.
“It is time for the Senate to step up to the plate and ensure that grand pursuits for 2022 do not get into the way of the national budget.
“To achieve maximum effect on the economy, the bulk of the budget will have to be disbursed at the start of the year to frontload most of the projects.