Members of the bicameral conference committee have agreed to ratify next week the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for this year, House Majority Leader Fredenil Castro said at a forum yesterday.

Despite the contentious issue between the Senate and House of Representatives on amendments made by lawmakers for their pet projects, Castro said a strong commitment was made to pass the budget bill.

“There is already an understanding among the House and Senate contingents that they will finish all the debates to ratify the budget before Congress adjourns on 6 February,” Castro said.

“The desire to complete all the tasks for the 2019 budget before break is very strong,” Castro added.

Congress will adjourn for the 90-day campaign period in the runup to the 13 May midterm polls.

Debates continue regarding so-called “insertions” by members of both chambers which had stalled the deliberations on the budget.

Senators accused House members of being allocated P160 million each in “pork barrel.” They said multiplied by 300 congressmen, total pork would amount to P48 billion.

The senators admitted introducing “institutional amendments” in the 2019 proposed budget.

Castro said senators must choose between disclosing particulars of P189 billion budget insertions at the bicameral conference panel or revealing particulars of the P8 billion “pork barrel” allocated for each Senate member to all Filipinos.

The approval of a new budget acquired more urgency after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said a reenacted budget for the entire year will mean that teachers who will serve as Board of Elections Inspectors (BEI) in May will not be paid for their services.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said this could be the implication of a reenacted budget on the poll body’s preparations for elections in May.

“It is not easy since the teachers deserve to be paid for it. That is our concern. I don’t want to speculate on how teachers will react if we tell them that they are going to have to work without pay,” Jimenez said.

He also appealed to Congress to reconsider the P1.9-billion budget it has allocated for the honoraria of public school teachers who will serves as BEI.

“We are asking the bicameral conference committee to reconsider this. Our budget requirement (for teachers’ honoraria) is P3.2 billion,” he said.

While hoping that the 2019 national budget would be approved, Jimenez said they are open to explore options regarding the matter.

“We do not close the door for any possible solutions. Those are very welcome and we are certainly going to explore each one of them to the fullest,” he said.

Since 1 January this year, the government has been operating under a reenacted budget after Congress failed to pass the 2019 national budget on time due to allegations of “pork” insertions.

Lawmakers are possibly looking to just allow the government to continue operating on a reenacted budget for this year.