Senate: 2020 budget OK within the year

Sen. Sonny Angara: We are on track in passing 2020 budget before the end of the year. (Facebook)

The Senate said they are on track in passing the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) within the year, following the Lower House’s swift action on the fiscal budget.

To prevent the recurrence of the budget fiasco last year, Finance committee chair Senator Sonny Angara said they will incorporate all committee reports before the chamber adjourns on 5 October.

Angara said the 2020 GAB will be passed in no specific date, unlike the self-imposed deadline of the House of Representatives, but assured it will be finished before yearend.

“Before we (take our) break, I’d ask the vice chairs to finish their hearings and to submit their reports to incorporate (the final) committee report. So, we are on track for passage this year,” said Angara in a text message.

Just like the timeline they followed in the previous Congress, Senate President Vicente Sotto III does not want the Upper House to set a date for the P4.1-trillion budget’s approval.

“No need for deadlines. (We) will take it up through our normal route,” Sotto told the Daily Tribune.

Nonetheless, Angara said President Rodrigo Duterte’s certification of the 2020 GAB as urgent will help them in passing the measure immediately.

“That would help in the passage especially you can dispense with the three-day requirement of a gap between second and third reading. So that would shorten those periods,” he explained.

The Senate and the House of Representatives will reconcile the budget items in a bicameral conference for approval before sending the final copy to the President.

The government worked on a reenacted budget before the 2019 General Appropriations Act was signed by the President.

Meanwhile, Angara said the P100-million allocation per congressman, as revealed by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, can be approved as long as it complies with the Supreme Court ruling on the Development Acceleration Program (DAP) and Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

“It requires that these are not lump sums and that they are pre-identified,” Angara said. “We’ll take a look at whatever they send to us. The whole GAB, we will look into it.”

On the other hand, Deputy Speaker and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel defended the additional P1.6 billion allocation for the expenses of the 22 elected deputy speakers.

The House leader said that the increase will not solely be for expenses of their office but also for their staff and repair of other buildings in Batasan Complex.

“There are other expenses such as the increase of salaries and other workers. Remember also that the number of members of Congress increased from 292 from the 17thCongress to 304 members now,” Pimentel told the Daily Tribune.

“Also, some of the funds will be used for the repair and improvement of the existing buildings. There is a wrong perception that all the P1.6 billion will go to the deputy speakers. That is not true only a portion will be used for the deputy speakers. (Its) number also increased from 14 in the last Congress to 22 now,” he added.

In the 17th Congress, the House of Representatives has elected 14 deputy speakers based on the regional cluster they represented. But under the leadership of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, the chamber elected deputy speakers based on the committees.