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Palace hopes Congress passes 2020 budget on time

By Azer Parrocha

August 20, 2019, 8:14 pm

MANILA -- Malacañang has expressed hope that there would be no delay in the passage of the proposed PHP4.1 trillion national budget for next year.

“Actually, we do not have any guarantee. That depends on the members of Congress because they are the ones who will deliberate on the budget,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing on Tuesday.

The Department of Budget and Management submitted the proposed 2020 national budget to the House of Representatives on Tuesday morning while a copy will be turned over to the Senate.

“We can always hope it will pass on time because any delay will again affect our economy and I’m sure the members of Congress know that,” he added.

Panelo said legislators should consider the needs of the Filipino people.

“We’re always hopeful, whether Congress is dominated by allies of the President or not, because as we said repeatedly, members of Congress should know exactly what is good for the Filipino people being representatives of them,” he said.

Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, chair of the House appropriations committee, said budget deliberations will be done from Monday to Friday, starting August 22 to ensure its timely passage.

The target date for its passage is on October 4 before the congressional break, Ungab said.

The PHP4.1 trillion budget is 12 percent higher than this year’s PHP3.7-trillion expenditure program.

Last year, Duterte submitted the proposed PHP3.7 trillion national budget for 2019 to the Congress on the same day he delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 23.

However, the lawmakers failed to pass the bill on time due to allegations of last-minute amendments made by the House in the ratified bicameral conference committee report.

After ending the budget impasse, Congress transmitted the proposed budget spending to Duterte only last March 26.

Duterte finally signed the 2019 budget with several vetoed provisions on April 15. (PNA)

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