MALACAÑANG on Thursday said it is confident that the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019 will be passed before the year ends despite the limited time for the Senate to act on it.
The House of Representatives approved on third reading Tuesday the proposed 2019 national budget. Both chambers of Congress are set to adjourn for the Christmas break on Dec. 15 and will resume session on Jan. 14 next year.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri said Wednesday that the budget bill is expected to be transmitted to the Senate on Monday, Nov. 26. The Senate, he also said, is targeting to pass the proposed budget by Dec. 12.
In a briefing on Thursday morning, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said, “We’re only speculating that it will not be passed.”
Asked if the Palace is “convinced” that the proposed budget will be passed on time, he said: “Oh, of course.”
“Certainly, yes,” he also said when asked if the Palace is “talking” to lawmakers to ensure the passage of the budget before the year ends.
In a phone message to BusinessWorld on Thursday afternoon, Mr. Panelo confirmed that his remarks during the briefing referred to the passage of the proposed budget at the Senate level. “Yes, I meant the Senate,” he said.
Also during the briefing, Mr. Panelo said the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) has been tasked to communicate with Congress regarding the proposed budget. “The liaison officer. There is a liaison office,” he said.
Asked to comment on the probability of the Senate acting on the proposed budget within the remaining nine session days, PLLO Head Adelino B. Sitoy had yet to respond at deadline time.
As for Malacañang’s message to lawmakers, Mr. Panelo said: “[They] know that this is the budget proposal of the Palace, so they will have to do their job. If there are questions on the budget, they will raise them and we will respond to them.”
Mr. Panelo also denied speculation that there are “pork insertions” in the proposed budget which caused the delay of its approval and transmittal to the Senate.
“As far as I know,” he said when asked if there are “no pork insertions” in the proposed budget as alleged by some legislators like House Deputy Speaker Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. and Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson.
“Of course, the stand of the President is, from the very start, he will never allow anything like of that sort. But precisely, the proposal is being submitted to Congress, and it is the duty of Congress to go over it, examine it; and then, raise objections and it will not approve,” he also said.
Also on Wednesday, Mr. Zubiri said there is a likelihood that the government will have to operate on a reenacted budget in the first two to four weeks of 2019. — Arjay L. Balinbin

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