House vows to pass P1.54-trillion nat'l budget for 2010

With the country steel reeling from the effects of the global financial crunch and the successive tropical cyclones that hit areas in Luzon, the House of Representatives has vowed to prioritize the passage of the P1.54-trillion national budget for 2010 when Congress session resumes on Monday, November 9. “We cannot afford a re-enacted budget We need to be guided by a national recovery budget that is focused, among others, on education, health and human resource mobilization, information technology, infrastructure and investments development, industries and jobs promotion, and environment protection," said Speaker Prospero Nograles in a statement posted on the House website. Nograles and Majority Leader Arthur Defensor assured that the collective resolve of the House leadership and the members of the majority coalition to remain faithful to their constitutional mandate would override the issue of quorum. Defensor reiterated that the supplemental budget would continue to support the current reconstruction programs in the Panay islands earlier devastated by typhoon 'Frank.' Nograles, meanwhile, said calamities brought by recent cyclones stressed the need for government and people to work together. "Nature's wrath exempts no one. We all have a stake in the future of our children." For his part, House appropriations committee chairman Junie Cua said social services would get the highest share of P479.9 billion or almost one third (31 percent) of the 2010 outlay. Of the total social services money, P235 billion will go to education and manpower, including the Education department’s share of P172.8 billion and the P101 billion for social security and welfare," according to Cua. The House is also determined to pass on final reading the proposed Magna Carta of the Poor contained in House Bill 6915 and the OECD Tax Compliance Amendment (Exchange of Tax Information Matters) under HB 6330, said Defensor. - GMANews.TV