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Arroyo to sign 2010 budget before Valentine's Day


President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will sign the P1.54-trillion national budget for 2010 before Valentine's Day, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Wednesday. In a press briefing, Ermita affirmed that Malacañang finally received the three-inch thick General Appropriations Bill (GAB) after three weeks of printing. He said the GAB would be forwarded to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for review. “We have to take a look at what have been approved, slashed or added to by both houses of Congress," said Ermita. DBM is expected to submit its comments within 30 days. “On or before Feb. 13, the DBM shall submit their recommendations, if they are okay and what line items should be vetoed," Ermita said. House Speaker Prospero Nograles said he signed the bill last Saturday and passed it on to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who signed it Tuesday. "The delay was in the printing, not in the signing. And we expect the President to act on it very swiftly," he said. The House and the Senate ratified the 2010 budget last December 18, just before its Christmas break. The two chambers reduced the allocation for debt service payment from P340.812 billion to P276.212 billion. They also cut P300 million from the budget of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and realigned it to the pensions and gratuities of military and police officers. Congress also agreed to increase the budgets for: * education including allocations for the Department of Education, state colleges and universities and Commission on Higher Education to P185.477 billion; * infrastructure to P126.931 billion; * pension and gratuity fund, to P79.964 billion; * land reform, to P20.768 billion; * health, to P30.404 billion; * transportation and communication, to P16.612 billion; and * social welfare and development, to P15.314 billion. - Johanna Camille Sisante/KBK, GMANews.TV

Tags: 2010budget
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