Senate approves proposed P1.4-T nat'l budget for '09

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate approved on third and final reading Monday night the P1.4-trillion budget for 2009, via a roll-call vote of 13-2. Noting the budget is an urgent bill, the Senate did away with the three-day rule, or a three-day gap between the second and third reading of the proposal. Those who opposed the passage of the proposed budget were Senators Pilar Juliana Cayetano and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. In explaining her vote, Cayetano said: "There are certain provisions in the proposed budget which run counter to Congress constitutional mandate to hold the power of the purse. The budget provides for lump sum items, details on how the amount will be allocated and who will be the beneficiaries are unclear." She said there are no guidelines given to ensure that the Congress is guided on the wisdom and purpose for the proposed allocations. The senator cited that there are several items under the general fund adjustments, unprogrammed funds and the budget of some departments, as pointed out by some senators, which do not have special provisions for their use and administration. "These funds, thus, become subject to the discretion of the President (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo). The grant of such wide discretion to the President goes against our mandate to be the guardian of the public treasury," Cayetano said. "The Congress is tasked to ensure that the approved budget is balanced," the senator added. Pimentel said he agreed with the points raised by Cayetano. The Senate and the House of Representatives will now convene into a bicameral conference committee to thresh out differences in its respective versions of the proposal. Once the bicameral committee agrees on the provision, the budget bill will return to the Senate and House for ratification and then for the signature of the President. Chosen to represent the Senate in the bicameral conference committee are Senators Manuel Roxas II, Loren Legarda, Ramon Revilla Jr, Panfilo Lacson and Edgardo Angara. Members of the minority in the bicameral committee are Senators Pilar Juliana Cayetano and Alan Peter Cayetano. Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the bicameral committee meetings would start Tuesday. Angara said the meeting would be at the Philippine Coconut Authority building in Quezon City. No senator objected to Zubiri’s motion to approve the House Bill 5116 or the proposed budget on second reading after closing the period of committee and individual amendments. Zubiri said the Senate worked to make the budget concentrate on poverty mitigation, livelihood generation, job generation and pump priming mechanism for the economy. "We have to prioritize these programs because if not the P1.4 trillion we will allocate will be put to waste," Zubiri said. The senator said they also put more funding in the research and development. "The fund for research and development will be put together as pool of resources that the universities and colleges can tap," Zubiri said. He added that the research and development fund is intended to address the issues on food and energy as well as poverty mitigation to address the looming global recession. Last week, Angara, finance committee chairman, said the bicameral meeting would need only two to three meetings to thresh out the differences in the budget bill. "We have covered all the contentious issues beforehand and we've got an informal agreement with the House budget committee. It will take only two to three meetings," Angara said. He added that the bicameral committee will be able to discuss all the issues as it usually meet through the night. "So we remain hopeful, we remain optimistic (that we will be able to pass the budget) despite the fact that I think times will be tough," he added. Angara also assured that there will double insertions in the budget will not happen again as the Congress will be setting up an oversight committee that will conduct monthly review and monitor on the government spending. He said the oversight committee will be able to check irregularities on spending. "That will be one of the innovations we will be introducing in the 2009 budget," Angara said. - GMANews.TV