Palace thanks House allies for approval of 2011 budget

Malacanang on Tuesday thanked its allies in the House of Representatives for approving on Monday night the proposed P1.645 trillion budget for next year. The budget was approved despite protest by lawmakers from party-lists and the minority bloc. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Palace is thanking House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, and Appropriations committee chair Joseph Emilio Abaya—all members of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's Liberal Party—for leading the approval of the budget. The chamber voted 175-21 for the approval on third reading of the budget bill, House Bill 3101, which Aquino had certified as urgent. Aquino's certification allowed the House to set aside the three-day notice rule and vote on the bill even though printed copies of the proposed 2011 General Appropriations Act was given to the House members around 4 p.m. Valte said the lawmakers couldn't have been taken by surprise by the voting on the budget bill, noting that the House had been deliberating on it for nearly two months. "We live in a democracy which has kung ano pong proposal yung may numbers yun po yung mananaig (We live in a democracy where the proposal that is backed by numbers prevails)." she added. Lawmakers from the minority bloc and militant party-lists protested the swift voting on the budget. They also claimed that the approved budget was virtually like Malacanang's original proposal. “Our proposed amendments have not been included. Lump sums still exist. This representation could not vote for a P21-billion program which would benefit only five percent of the population," said Davao del Sur Rep. Marc Douglas Cagas. Abaya, however, had earlier said the chamber has realigned some P5 billion to P6 billion of the P1.6 trillion proposed budget for 2011 to benefit, among others, districts with lower allocations. He said some of the realigned funds would go to flood control and preventive maintenance projects as well as the rehabilitation of old roads. Some P2.5 billion, meanwhile, was realigned to the National Food Authority for the purchase – "and not importation" – of palay. Abaya said the fund will be sourced from the P5 billion initially earmarked for the private-public partnership (PPP) projects of the Department of Agriculture. Special provisions on the itemization of the P21-billion Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and the creation of an oversight committee on the CCT as endorsed by the minority bloc were also included. - KBK, GMANews.TV