PRESIDENT Duterte will likely sign the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 by first week of the new year.
“He said it will be by first week of January,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a press conference with Palace reporters.
Panelo, however, did not give any exact date of the possible signing of the proposed budget for next year.
On Dec. 11, Congress ratified the final version of the P4.1-trillion national budget bill for 2020, in an attempt to avoid another scenario of a reenacted budget.
From January to mid-April this year, the national government was forced to operate under a reenacted 2018 budget due to the delayed passage of the 2019 budget.
Lawmakers followed a strict timeline for the ratification of the proposed 2020 budget, despite the alleged last-minute insertions worth P83 billion made in the last few days of the bicameral deliberations.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson claimed that there are some 1,253 budget items worth P83.219 billion that are being listed as congressmen’s “source” of their “list” of 742 projects amounting to P16.342 billion for 2020.
He noted that the biggest shares of the supposed insertions were distributed to Albay (P670 million), Cavite (P580 million), Sorsogon (P570 million), Batangas (P502 million), Bulacan (P440 million), Pangasinan (P420 million), and Cebu (P410 million).
Panelo said Duterte is still reviewing the proposed 2020 budget.
He maintained, however, that the President would get rid of items that will be proven “unconstitutional”.
“The President scrutinizes it first before he signs it, doesn’t he? Let’s wait. If it’s unconstitutional, he will veto. But if it’s not unconstitutional, it will not be removed,” Panelo said.
“Because this is how it goes, when somebody says it’s unconstitutional, it doesn’t mean it’s unconstitutional. This President is a lawyer, he knows what is unconstitutional or not. So he decides for himself if the claim of that person is true or not,” he added.
While the President has yet to approve the proposed 2020 budget, he signed on Dec. 20 a law extending the availability of the 2019 national budget until Dec. 31, 2020 to allow the continued appropriation of budget earmarked for items included in this year’s spending plan.
Republic Act 11464, which was signed by Duterte on Dec. 20, authorizes the use of P1.161 trillion in unobligated funds under the 2019 GAA until the entire 2020.
Around P324.758 billion of the P1.161 trillion unobligated funds are for maintenance and other operating expenses, while the remaining P339.53 billion are for capital outlays. (PNA)
