Proposed 2010 budget ready for Senate deliberations
AMITA LEGASPI, GMANews.TV
12/02/2009 | 08:12 AM
The proposed P1.514-trillion national budget for 2010 has finally reached the Senate plenary on Tuesday and is now ready for further scrutiny as Senate finance committee chairman Edgardo Angara.
In his sponsorship speech, Angara appealed to his colleagues to approve the budget bill with deliberate speed so they can design an allocation plan to pursue green and sustainable growth because “2010 will be known as the year of starting over, and should mark a new beginning."
“For the Philippines, the six-year period from 2010 to 2016 will be critical. The next administration faces a daunting challenge: a growing population, an environment under extreme stress, rapid technological breakthroughs, and a dramatically restructured global financial market," the senator said.
The Senate, according to him, needs to map out an intelligent allocation plan for the country to “allow it to keep growing by pump priming the economy to prevent it from contracting and to save more people from falling into poverty."
On the other hand, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said that after the sponsorship of the bill, the chamber could start tackling the proposed budgets of the different departments next week. The Senate will have no session Wednesday due to a local holiday, the Pasay City Day.
“Ang plano namin sa(we plan to discuss it from) December 7,8, 9 and 10, Monday to Thursday next week yung trabaho uumpisahan (the work will start at) 9 a.m. hanggang (till) 9 p.m.," Zubiri said in a separate interview.
He said if they will be able to discuss the budget of all the departments by Thursday, they can approve the budget bill on second and third reading and send it to the bicameral conference committee to reconcile the disagreeing provisions in the respective versions of the House and Senate.
The House approved its version of the budget on November 9. [See: House OKs P1.5-trillion budget on final reading]
However, if the senators would fail to do so, the proposed budget would have to wait for the resumption of the Congress session on January 18. The Congress would adjourn its session on December 18 for the Christmas break.
If this happens, the country would have a reenacted budget in the first month of 2010, Zubiri said.
However, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel expressed apprehension on the possibility of having a reenacted budget, saying it could be used by the present administration to manipulate the projects for their bets.
Angara earlier assured the passage of the budget before the year ends. [See: Angara assures passage of 2010 budget by end of the year] - LBG, GMANews.TV
In his sponsorship speech, Angara appealed to his colleagues to approve the budget bill with deliberate speed so they can design an allocation plan to pursue green and sustainable growth because “2010 will be known as the year of starting over, and should mark a new beginning."
“For the Philippines, the six-year period from 2010 to 2016 will be critical. The next administration faces a daunting challenge: a growing population, an environment under extreme stress, rapid technological breakthroughs, and a dramatically restructured global financial market," the senator said.
The Senate, according to him, needs to map out an intelligent allocation plan for the country to “allow it to keep growing by pump priming the economy to prevent it from contracting and to save more people from falling into poverty."
On the other hand, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said that after the sponsorship of the bill, the chamber could start tackling the proposed budgets of the different departments next week. The Senate will have no session Wednesday due to a local holiday, the Pasay City Day.
“Ang plano namin sa(we plan to discuss it from) December 7,8, 9 and 10, Monday to Thursday next week yung trabaho uumpisahan (the work will start at) 9 a.m. hanggang (till) 9 p.m.," Zubiri said in a separate interview.
He said if they will be able to discuss the budget of all the departments by Thursday, they can approve the budget bill on second and third reading and send it to the bicameral conference committee to reconcile the disagreeing provisions in the respective versions of the House and Senate.
The House approved its version of the budget on November 9. [See: House OKs P1.5-trillion budget on final reading]
However, if the senators would fail to do so, the proposed budget would have to wait for the resumption of the Congress session on January 18. The Congress would adjourn its session on December 18 for the Christmas break.
If this happens, the country would have a reenacted budget in the first month of 2010, Zubiri said.
However, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel expressed apprehension on the possibility of having a reenacted budget, saying it could be used by the present administration to manipulate the projects for their bets.
Angara earlier assured the passage of the budget before the year ends. [See: Angara assures passage of 2010 budget by end of the year] - LBG, GMANews.TV
