MANILA -- The House of Representatives may pass the proposed PHP4.1 trillion national budget for 2020 on second and third reading on Friday, House Committee on Appropriations chair and Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab said Thursday.
Ungab said this is possible after President Rodrigo Duterte certified the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) as urgent.
The House leader said the passage of the budget bill on time is “of immense importance in helping boost the economy.”
“Thus, it is possible that the GAB will be passed this Friday, since it was already certified as urgent,” Ungab said.
Prior to Duterte’s certification, the House was planning to approve the 2020 budget on second reading on Friday, and approve it on third reading before Congress goes on recess on October 4.
House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez assured that the 2020 budget will be a reflection not only of the President’s vision but also of the people’s will.
"As envisioned by the President, the 2020 national budget seeks to move the nation forward towards its aspired-for destination: a more peaceful and progressive Philippines," he said in a statement.
"We, in Congress, support the initiatives of the Duterte administration to empower the poor through increased subsidies and grants aimed at ending the inter-generational cycle of poverty in the country,” Romualdez said.
Malacañang said Duterte certified next year’s proposed national budget as urgent to avoid a repeat of the delay in the passage of the PHP3.7 trillion 2019 budget, which slowed down the country’s economic growth in the first half of the year.
Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Thursday showed that this year’s second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a more than four-year low of 5.5 percent as the government was forced to underspend by at least PHP1 billion a day on public goods and services due to the late approval of the 2019 budget.
Even industries were not spared from the impact of the delayed budget, it added.
The PSA said earnings by major industries in the second quarter of 2019 slowed to 6.5 percent alongside a weaker growth in the economy still brought about by the budget delay. This was below the 9.6 percent expansion for the same period in 2018.
Employment also took a hit, with construction companies shedding jobs by 2 percent as public construction projects came to a stop due to the election ban for mid-term polls, and the lack of budget to roll out the government’s infrastructure projects. (PNA)
