Malacañang said it is not giving in to the House of Representatives’ demand to revert the proposed cash-based to an obligation-based scheme for the 2019 budget as it expressed readiness to use a reenacted spending plan.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the House is sending confusing signals to Malacañang.

The House Committee on Appropriations suspended all budget hearings and returned the budget document to the Palace.

Roque in a television interview said the Palace has found the action of the House “frankly curious.”

He noted that Malacañang did not have problems with the national budget for the past two years.

“And although there is now a change of leadership, the President of course is expecting the usual cooperation from an equally strong ally, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,” Roque said. He added that the head of the Committee on Appropriations has not been changed.

“It’s still Rep. Karlo Nograles,” he added.

“So we’re quite frankly surprised at this recent development. It’s as if the House is saying, with the new leadership, the Palace better watch out because it won’t be as easy as it was in the past,” Roque said.

“I’ve been in contact with Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and they were united in saying that we are not daunted by the possibility of a reenacted budget because that means it is the Executive that would choose which projects will be implemented,” Roque said at a separate news briefing.

Last Saturday, Nograles announced the suspension of deliberations on the proposed P3.757-trillion budget for 2019 at the committee level “until further notice.”

Nograles said it was the “decision of the House” to suspend all budget briefings amid lawmakers’ outright opposition to the new cash-based budgeting system proposed by the Department of Budget and Management.

“And since we will revert to obligation-based budgeting, we will give time to DBCC (Development and Budget Coordination Committee) to make the necessary changes,” he added.