THE House of Representatives on Tuesday transmitted the P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 to the Senate ahead of the a month-long break beginning Oct. 4, with senior legislators claiming that the spending plan is “pork-free” and invited the Senate to “see for themselves.”
“Again and again, we contend that it is a pork-free budget as we strictly confined ourselves to the decision of the Supreme Court which declared the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) unconstitutional and prohibited the post-enactment identification of projects,” Deputy Speaker Neptali M. Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City said in a statement Tuesday.
“Now, the Senate can finally see for themselves.”
Senator Juan Edgardo M. Angara, Finance Committee Chairman, confirmed the transmittal of the budget, adding that the Senate is set to work on the committee report over the break. Congress will resume session on Nov. 4.
“Our finance subcommittees are completing the hearings on the proposed budgets of the last few agencies,” Mr. Angara said in a separate statement, Tuesday.
“During the break, we will be consolidating all of the submissions into the committee report and once we resume sessions, we will be ready to sponsor the bill in plenary.”
Based on the committee’s schedule, as of Sept. 30, the remaining budget hearings will cover the Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, among others.
“The Senate will work overtime to approve this most important piece of legislation so that the measure will be with the President for signing before the end of the year,” Mr. Angara also said.
The chambers hope to pass on the budget to the Office of the President in time for signing by Dec. 15.
The House on Sept. 20 approved the 2020 spending plan on second and third reading. The chamber skipped the three-day prescribed period in passing a measure, after President Rodrigo R. Duterte certified the bill as urgent.
Legislators are hoping to avoid a repeat of the delay in the enactment of the 2019 national budget after months-long impasse between the House and the Department of Budget and Management and later with the Senate over alleged “insertions” made after the spending plan was approved in bicameral session.
Mr. Duterte signed the 2019 budget on April 15 and vetoed some P95 billion worth of appropriations as “unconstitutional.” — Charmaine A. Tadalan
