Albay Rep. Joey Salceda. (File photo)
MANILA – The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday said that reenacting the 2020 budget for next year would compromise the country’s pandemic response and recovery efforts.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said a reenacted budget would threaten the government’s ability to procure vaccines and therapeutics in 2021, as well as personal protective equipment for health care workers.
Salceda also noted that a reenacted budget cannot be realigned, especially with the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, which provides special powers to realign government funds to directly address the health crisis, set to expire by the end of the year.
“So, preventing a reenacted budget is a matter of life and death for thousands of Filipinos. This is clear to all party leaders in the House,” he said in a statement.
He, however, said he believes that the possibility of a reenacted budget remains a remote one considering that both contenders for the speakership -- incumbent Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, have made it clear that they would not do anything to cause the delay of the enactment of the spending measure for 2021.
“The President has also made it clear that he will do what is necessary to get the budget enacted on time. All parties concerned are aware of the grave economic consequences that a budget delay will cause our recovering economy,” he said.
He said a reenacted budget would also threaten the initiatives under the Medium-Term Information and Communications Technology Harmonization Initiative (MITHI), which would help the country adapt to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
He explained that the MITHI programs are allotted PHP7.6 billion in the 2021 budget, almost all of which are new appropriations not found in the 2020 national budget.
Aside from this, he argued that stimulus measures, particularly the PHP1.1 trillion for the Build, Build, Build program, would stand to see delays if Congress fails to enact the proposed 2021 national budget on time.
“Of course, a delay in the enactment of the 2021 budget will not stop me and my committee from filing and hearing revenue measures. Most legislation will go on,” he said. “But the budget is the House’s most important function, so in perspective, everything else that we do will seem much smaller in significance compared to the national budget.”
Cayetano has vowed that the House of Representatives will expedite the passage of the PHP4.5-trillion 2021 national budget after President Rodrigo Duterte appealed to Congress to stop politicking as it could place the nation’s welfare in jeopardy.
“We take the President’s stern admonition to heart and we assure the public that we share his concern for the welfare of our people,” Cayetano said.
“Thank you Mr. President because Congress can now continue to deliberate on the budget without the specter of politics and intrigue hounding us,” he added.
In his address, the President urged the House to resolve the impasse on the budget and pass the 2021 national budget legally and constitutionally.
“If you do not solve the problem, then I will solve the problem for you,” Duterte said.
While the President said he would not give a deadline for Congress to resolve its issues, Cayetano gave a timeline and said the House will submit the printed budget to the Senate on November 5.
He said this would allow the senators to proceed with their own hearings and prepare the way for the formal transmittal of the 2021 General Appropriations Bill on November 16 when the House is expected to approve it on third and final reading. (PNA)
