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Tt{uRsDAY, AUGI $ 15, 2019
Lawmakersto minimize
risk of 202,0 budget dela;r
\
LAWMAKERS of both chambers
of Congress are moving to avoid
another delay in enactment of
the national budget which has
put the gbvernment's economic
growth target this year at risk.
Davao City 3'd district Rep.
Isidro T. Ungab, who heads the
House of Representatives Ways
'and Means committee, said in a
text Inessage on Wednesday that
hispanel onAug. 22 wiil start de-
liberations on the proposed P4.1-
trillion naiional budget for next
year that will be submitted by the
Executive branch before the Aug.
2l deadliire to do so.
In a statement on Wednesday,
House Majority Leader Ferdinand
Martin G. Romualdez of Leyte's
l$ District said the chamber will
"continue to hold budget brief-
ings so that our colleagues will
have enough time to raise their
concerrts" with state economic
managers, as well as heads of de-
partments and agencies.
*We also appeal to our col-
leagues to avoid repetitive ques-
tions during formal budget delib-
erations." :
Senate Finance committee
chairman Senator Juan Edgardo
M. Ang#a
- who had said that the
target is to have the z}z}national
budget ready for signing into law
by Dec. 15, ahead of Dec. 21-Jan. 19
Christmas-New Year break said - program for that period by a fifth.
separately in a mobile phone mes-
sage: "We'llwork closelywith the
Senate and House leaders and my
counterpart in the House, Rep.
Sid Ungab, to make sure we do
everything hurnanly possible to
pass the budget in a responsible
and timelymanner..."
ffiTr
President Rodrigo R. Duterte
aird his Cabinet approved the
2O2O national budget onAug. 5.
In its July f8 meeting the De-
velopment Budget Coordination
Committee retained a budget def-
icit ceiling equivalent to 3.27o of
gross domestic product this year,
with targeted P3.536-trillion
revenues - consisting largely of
P3;332-trillion tax collections -
helping to cover P4.zl4trillion in
programmed expenditures.
The government had operated
on a reenacted 2018 budget from
January to April 15, when Mr.
Duterte signed this year's national
budget into law but vetoed P95.3
billion in funds that were not in
sync with state priorities, slashing
th€ totil t6 P3.662trillion.
Resistance among House lead-
ers to the Budget department's
shift to a "cash-based budget"
that took into qonsideration state
offices'limited capacity to spend,
and later accusations of irregular
fund insertions legislative charn-
bers hurled against each other
caused the 2Ol9 budget to miss
its end-2018 enactment deadline.
The impact could bb seen in
official infrastructure,and other
capital outlays data showing that
disbursements fell byLL.TVo year-
on-year to P311.4 billion last se-
mester, missing a P392.9-billion
State economic managers and
private econorniSts blamed the
delay in budget enactment -
which left! newprojects unfunded
- for t}rre 5.5% economic growth
last semester that compares to a
reduced 6- 7 Vo tar get for 2019. - V.
A. C. Ferreras u'fft CAT
PAG€